Uttl 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK   •    BOSTON  •    CHICAGO  •    DALLAS 
ATLANTA  •    SAN   FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO.,  LIMITED 

LONDON  •    BOMBAY  •   CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  LTD. 

TORONTO 


THE  LIFE  WORK  OF 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELE Y 

IN  THE  SERVICE  OF  HUMANITY 


BY 

JAMES  MORGAN 


gork 

THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 
1913 

Att  rights  reserved 


COPTBIftHT,   1913, 

BY  THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY. 


Set  up  and  electrotyped.    Published  September,  1913. 


NortaooK 

J.  8.  Cashing  Co.  —  Berwick  &  Smith  Co. 
Norwood,  Mass.,  U.S.A. 


FOREWORD 

WHEN  a  man  dies,  his  worth  must  be  estimated  not  by 
what  he  received  but  by  what  he  gave,  not  by  what  he 
achieved  for  himself  but  by  what  he  achieved  for  others  — 
for  us.  If  he  drew  out  of  life  more  than  he  put  in,  his  name 
must  pass  into  insolvency  only  to  be  discharged  into  a 
kindly  oblivion.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  his  services  exceed 
his  honors  and  rewards,  the  world  is  his  debtor.  Edward 
A.  Moseley,  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission from  its  organization  in  188T  until  his  death  in 
1911,  held  only  a  modest  office,  but  in  the  final  accounting 
he  is  disclosed  a  creditor  of  humanity. 

At  the  request  of  his  brothers  and  as  my  offering  to  the 
memory  of  a  friend,  I  have  prepared  this  record  of  his  life. 
Admittedly  it  is  out  of  proportion  to  his  fame,  but  so  was 
the  work  he  did  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  as  champion  of 
laws  which  have  greatly  promoted  safety,  justice,  and  peace 
on  the  railroads  of  the  United  States.  The  story  needs  to 
be  told  all  the  more  because  the  general  public  knows  so 
little  of  the  labors  of  this  government  official  who  quietly 
turned  what  might  have  been  a  routine  task  into  a  noble 
service  on  behalf  of  his  fellow  men. 

Pioneer  in  an  important  field  of  meliorative  legislation, 
his  work  and  his  papers  specially  deserve  the  attention  of 
those  who  are  interested  in  the  development  of  the  federal 
power  as  a  regulative  agency,  and  the  narrative  and  docu- 
ments of  his  long  and  successful  endeavor  before  Congress 


393563 


vi  FOREWORD 

and  in  the  courts  are  significant  materials  for  an  opening 
chapter  in  the  history  of  the  supervision  by  the  nation  of 
interstate  affairs. 

He  anticipated  what  is  to-day  a  national  movement  for 
the  conservation  of  natural  resources,  which  fittingly  began, 
under  his  leadership,  with  the  conservation  of  human  beings. 
He  saw  the  safeguards  of  life  on  the  rail  grow  year  by  year 
until  Congress  required  every  freight  car  in  the  country 
to  be  made  over.  He  saw  the  employer's  liability  for  deaths 
and  injuries  among  railroad  employees  established  by  law 
and  decision.  He  saw  the  hours  of  service  on  the  trains 
limited  by  act  of  Congress,  and  saw  peace  between  em- 
ployees and  employers  fortified  by  effective  provisions  for 
mediation  and  arbitration. 

If  every  British  ship  bears  on  her  hull  "  Plimsoll's  Mark  " 
in  token  of  Samuel  Plimsoll's  act  of  Parliament  against 
overloading,  equally  the  air  brake,  the  automatic  coupler, 
and  each  device  prescribed  by  Congress  for  the  security 
of  trainmen  on  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  freight  cars 
in  the  United  States  are  the  "  Moseley  Mark,"  and  a  tes- 
timony to  Edward  A.  Moseley's  unselfish  and  unwearied 
labors  in  behalf  of  the  far  more  numerous  crews  on  the  rail 
who  face  perils  as  great  as  those  of  the  sea. 

BOSTON. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGE 

I.    A  PUBLIC-SPIRITED  RACE 1 

II.     SAILING  BEFORE  THE  MAST 6 

III.  VENTURES  AND  ADVENTURES   .        .        .        .        .        .14 

IV.  IN  THE  LEGISLATURE 22 

V.     FINDING  HIS  PLACE 26 

VI.     THE  NEW  SECRETARY .31 

VII.     UNDER  FIVE  PRESIDENTS 41 

VIII.    A  CLEVELAND  INCIDENT 48 

IX.  TAKING  UP  HIS  LIFE  WORK             .        .        .        .        .54 

X.  THE  FIRST  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT       ....       64 

XL  THE  BRAKEMAN  WHO  LOST  A  HAND        ....      77 

XII.  BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND  WIDOWS   ....      89 

XIII.  THE  EMPLOYERS'  LIABILITY  ACT 103 

XIV.  SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR    .        .        .        .118 
XV.  Two  GREAT  MEASURES     .        .        .        .        .        .        .131 

XVI.    MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION 143 

XVII.     THE  RAILROAD  BROTHERHOODS 158 

XVIII.     HEROES  IN  OVERALLS 170 

XIX.    FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE     . 184 

XX.     QUESTIONS  OF  LAW 203 

XXI.     CUBA  AND  THE  COAL  STRIKE 211 

XXII.    A  REPUBLIC'S  GRATITUDE 219 

XXIII.  His  WORK  DONE 230 

XXIV.  A  BROAD-GAUGE  AMERICAN 246 

XXV.     A  RECORD  OF  FRIENDSHIPS 255 

XXVI.    THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN 262 

APPRECIATIONS 278 

ADDRESSES 309 

INDEX 373 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

The  Frontispiece,  with  autograph Frontispiece 

FACING  PAGE 

Mr.  Moseley  in  Boyhood    .........        8 

Mr.  Moseley 's  Boyhood  Home 12 

The  Thanks  of  the  Commonwealth .        .74 

Mr.  Moseley  at  His  Desk .220 

Mr.  Moseley  in  the  Dismal  Swamp    .......     268 

Deer  Island  in  the  Merrimac,  Newburyport,  Massachusetts      .        .     276 


EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

CHAPTER  I 
A  PUBLIC-SPIRITED  RACE 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY  was  fortunate  in  the  accidents 
of  his  birth,  fortunate  in  the  commonwealth,  the  town, 
and  the  family  in  which  he  was  born. 

He  was  reared  in  a  home  marked  by  comfort  and  re- 
finement. His  native  town  of  Newburyport,  although 
linked  with  the  world  by  commerce  and  dignified  by  a 
fine  civic  pride,  was  almost  rural  in  its  quietness  and  in  its 
neighborly  spirit.  From  his  native  state  of  Massachu- 
setts, he  received  the  heritage  of  her  high  ideals  of  public 
service,  and  in  his  boyhood  he  saw  her  the  moral  leader 
of  the  nation  in  its  great  crisis. 

While  he  was  a  most  democratic  man,  he  always  took 
an  honest  satisfaction  in  the  traditions  of  his  old  New 
England  family,  which  he  diligently  searched  out  in  its 
many  branches.  His  has  been  a  stanch  and  public-spirited 
race  characteristic  of  Massachusetts,  where  family  pride 
attaches  not  so  much  to  old  fortunes  won  in  trade  and  to 
large  estates  as  to  the  record  of  services  and  honors  in  the 
forum,  the  field,  or  the  pulpit.  His  interest  in  his  geneal- 
ogy was  centered  upon  those  forbears  who  had  served 
the  colony,  the  commonwealth,  and  the  country,  and  he 

B  1 


2  EDWARD  A.     MOSELEY 

,:      ;   ..-'. 

liked  to  trace  his  descent  from  good  men  who  had  taken 
their  part  in  all  the  various  movements  which  in  peace 
and  war  make  up  the  history  of  New  England. 

No  less  than  twenty-two  of  his  ancestors  are  recorded 
among  the  pioneers  of  the  Old  Bay  Colony,  who  settled  on 
the  shore  of  the  New  World  between  1630  and  1750,  in- 
cluding Thaddeus  Clark,  John  Brown,  Richard  Strong, 
William  Thomas,  Thomas  Chapman,  and  John  Maudesley 
or  Moseley,  who  came  from  near  Hull  in  England  in  the 
beginning  of  the  Puritan  immigration  and  settled  at  Dor- 
chester, now  a  district  of  Boston,  before  1640. 

Samuel,  the  great-grandson  of  John  Moseley,  graduated 
from  Harvard  in  1729,  was  chaplain  to  Governor  Belcher 
and  for  fifty-seven  years  pastor  of  a  church  in  Windham, 
Connecticut  —  "  an  eminent  Christian  and  distinguished 
divine,  a  tender  companion,  an  affectionate  parent,"  his 
epitaph  tells  us.  His  son,  Ebenezer,  graduating  from 
Yale  College  in  1763,  followed  in  his  father's  footsteps 
and,  entering  the  ministry,  went  as  a  missionary  to  the 
Indians  of  the  Six  Nations,  among  whom  he  gained  great 
influence.  Patriotism,  however,  transformed  the  clergy- 
man into  a  soldier  when  the  Revolution  came.  Raising 
a  company,  he  entered  the  army  under  General  Israel 
Putnam  and  was  a  captain  at  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill. 
He  was  afterward  commissioned  as  a  colonel,  and  was 
often  elected  to  the  Connecticut  Legislature.  Among 
other  ancestors  of  Edward  A.  Moseley  in  the  Revolution 
were  Colonel  Gilmore,  Colonel  Jonathan  Buck,  and  Cap- 
tain Ebenezer  Buck. 

The  clerical  soldier,  Colonel  Ebenezer  Moseley,  married 


A  PUBLIC-SPIRITED  RACE  a 

a  sister  of  Governor  and  Senator  Caleb  Strong  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, and  their  son,  Ebenezer,  established  the  family 
in  Newburyport.  The  latter  was  a  graduate  of  Yale, 
a  public  official  and  successful  lawyer,  in  whose  office 
Caleb  Cushing,  afterwards  a  distinguished  attorney- 
general  of  the  United  States,  read  law.  A  portrait  of 
Colonel  Moseley  holds  an  honored  place  among  the  por- 
traits of  distinguished  leaders  of  the  Essex  bar  in  the 
Court  House  at  Salem.  His  position  in  the  community 
is  well  shown  by  the  fact  that  he  was  chosen  to  welcome 
Lafayette  to  Newburyport  when  the  illustrious  French- 
man was  making  his  farewell  tour  of  America  in  1824. 

Ebenezer  Moseley's  son,  Edward  Strong  Moseley,  who 
was  born  in  Newburyport  in  1813  and  died  there  in  1900, 
was  among  the  last  surviving  types  of  New  England 
merchants  in  the  golden  age  of  New  England  commerce, 
when  adventure  and  romance  mingled  with  trade.  He 
was  a  member  of  the  Yale  Class  of  1833,  and  began  his 
long  and  prosperous  business  life  in  the  counting  room 
of  Benjamin  A.  Gould,  a  noted  East  India  merchant  of 
Boston.  As  supercargo,  he  made  two  voyages  to  India 
and  one  to  China  in  his  early  days  and  crossed  the  equator 
sixteen  times.  He  became  one  of  the  largest  shipowners 
of  Newburyport  and  had  an  interest  in  scores  of  vessels. 
While  yet  a  young  man,  it  was  said  of  him  that  he  was 
"the  richest  man  in  town,  .  .  .  but  he  never  had  any 
pride  of  purse  or  possession  and  disliked  exceedingly  any 
ostentation  or  display  of  mere  money." 

As  the  trade  between  New  England  and  the  East  de- 
clined, Mr.  Moseley  took  part  in  establishing  manufac- 


4  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

tures,  but  in  the  last  fifty  years  of  his  life  he  was  engaged 
in  banking.  He  was  president  of  the  Mechanicks'  Na- 
tional Bank  for  forty  years  and,  until  his  death,  and  for 
nearly  as  long  a  time,  president  of  the  Institution  for 
Savings  in  Newburyport,  a  man  "  whose  word  was  law," 
and  having  "  the  manner  of  long  command  .  .  .  yet  few 
men  have  lived  with  a  more  open  hand  than  his  when 
his  heart  or  his  sense  of  justice  was  touched  .  .  . 
his  charities,  although  unheralded,  were  large  ...  a 
man  of  scholarship,  with  refined  and  eclectic  tastes  in 
literature,  a  constant  student  and  fastidious  reader,  col- 
lecting rare  books  and  manuscripts,  himself  a  writer  of 
faultless  English  and  well-rounded  periods." 

Edward  Strong  Moseley's  life  was  filled  with  service, 
but  aside  from  membership  of  the  school  committee  and 
on  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the  Public  Library,  he  never 
accepted  public  office.  Himself  a  liberal  giver  to  the 
library,  he  largely  influenced  its  generous  endowment. 
As  president  of  the  Merrimac  Humane  Society  and  presi- 
dent of  the  Society  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty  to  Ani- 
mals, his  benevolent  spirit  found  active  expression.  His 
father  had  been  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Humane 
Society,  and  his  own  son,  Edward,  was  in  turn  a  member 
of  it. 

He  married,  in  1839,  Charlotte  Augusta,  daughter  of 
Rev.  George  T.  Chapman,  D.D.,  an  Episcopal  clergyman, 
born  in  Devonshire,  England,  a  woman  whose  "life  was 
like  one  long  prayer."  Of  that  happy  union  which  lasted 
fifty-four  years  and  until  Mrs.  Moseley's  death  in  1893, 
the  surviving  children  are  Charles  William  and  Frederick 


A  PUBLIC-SPIRITED  RACE  5 

Strong  Moseley,  both  prominent  and  fortunate  in  the 
financial  life  of  Boston ;  Mary  Alice  Abbot  of  Westford, 
Massachusetts,  and  Charlotte  Augusta  Nason,  who  lives 
in  the  old  home  on  High  Street,  Newburyport.  The 
eldest  of  this  interesting  family  was  Edward  Augustus 
Moseley,  born  March  23,  1846. 


CHAPTER  II 
SAILING  BEFORE  THE  MAST 

NEWBTJRYPORT  was  and  is  a  rare  good  town  to  be 
born  in.  It  is  more*  than  a  geographical  term,  more  than 
a  mere  political  subdivision.  It  inspires  veneration  and 
affection  among  its  sons  and  daughters,  and  to  Edward 
A.  Moseley  it  ever  remained  the  dearest  spot  of  earth. 

Although  an  incorporated  city,  with  busy  mills,  an 
old-time  serenity  clings  to  it.  The  traditions  of  other 
days  linger  about  its  stately  old  homes  and  quaint  old 
churches,  as  well  as  about  the  neglected  wharves  and  the 
fishermen's  cottages  down  by  the  shore.  It  is  a  place 
with  a  character  and  charm  of  its  own,  proud  of  its  past 
and  content  with  its  present  lot.  John  Quincy  Adams 
lamented  that  he  had  found  better  society  in  Newbury- 
port  when  he  was  a  law  student,  than  he  could  find  in 
Washington  when  he  was  President. 

The  poet's  proposition  that  the  child  is  father  of  the 
man  was  verified  in  Mr.  Moseley's  life.  He  was  a  youth 
with  standards  of  his  own  and  not  at  all  conventional. 
He  went  to  several  private  schools,  after  which  he  attended 
the  West  End  Male  Grammar  School  and  the  Brown 
High  School,  but  he  did  not  stay  to  graduate  from  the 
latter.  He  cared  little  for  books,  but  a  great  deal  for  life. 

A  healthy  young  animal,  he  had  his  full  share  of  the 

6 


SAILING  BEFORE  THE  MAST  7 

element  of  mischief,  which  moved  him,  however,  to  no 
worse  tricks  than  filling  the  schoolhouse  furnace  with 
asafetida,  and  thus  causing  school  to  be  dismissed.  The 
same  welcome  result  was  ingeniously  accomplished  by 
him  another  time  when  he  stuffed  the  thermometer  with 
ice.  When  the  principal  came  and  read  the  temperature, 
he  shivered  and  said,  "Why,  boys,  you  can't  study  in 
this  cold  room;  off  you  go  !" 

With  it  all,  the  boy  was  kind,  and  his  wiser  teachers 
found  his  weak  spot  and  ruled  him  through  his  affections. 
The  slightest  kindness  would  overcome  him.  One  day, 
after  perpetrating  some  offense,  he  opened  his  desk  and 
saw  there  a  volume  of  Moore's  poems,  "From  his  affec- 
tionate teacher,  O.  B.  M."  That  was  enough  to  conquer 
hun,  and  thenceforth  nothing  could  tempt  him  to  break 
a  rule. 

Mathematics  was  his  favorite  study,  and  yet  he  seemed 
not  to  be  studious  of  books  even  in  that  branch.  He 
worked  out  problems  easily,  but  almost  by  his  own 
methods. 

His  brother,  Frederick  S.,  recalls  him  as  "not  a  remark- 
able scholar,  but  much  more  interested  in  outdoor  life. 
He  was  an  athlete  and  a  good  deal  of  a  boxer.  Although 
it  may  not  be  worth  mentioning,  I  think  he  enjoyed  a 
good,  clean  fight  more  than  anything  else,  and  it  is  my 
impression  he  generally  came  out  ahead,  though  far  from 
being  a  bully." 

"I  remember  him,"  his  brother,  Charles  W.,  writes, 
"as  a  very  active,  wide-awake  boy ;  very  much  interested 
in  his  friends  and  devoted  to  them,  and  very  much  in- 


8  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

terested  in  nature  and  everything  of  the  outside  world 
about  him. 

"  He  always  had  some  hobby  and  was,  at  different  times, 
interested  in  his  garden,  in  making  and  collecting  minerals 
and  other  natural  objects,  and  also  later  in  all  kinds  of 
sports.  At  one  time  he  was  very  much  interested  in  hens, 
later  in  the  male  of  the  species,  which  he  used  in  cock 
fights,  also  in  colts  and  horses  and  in  timing  their  speed. 

"He  was  always  warm-hearted  and  prodigal  with  his 
money  and  good  will.  He  never  seemed  to  know  what 
the  word  fear  meant,  and  in  tussles  with  the  boys  he  was 
always  our  champion. 

"The  qualities  that  in  after  life  led  him  to  take  the 
part  of  the  ill-used  employees  of  railroads  caused  him  as 
a  boy  to  take  the  part  of  the  weaker  fellows,  and  many 
a  stiff  fight  did  he  make  in  protecting  them  from  the 
overgrown  bullies. 

"In  Newburyport  there  were  what  amongst  the  boys 
were  called  the  '  upperlongers '  and  the  '  downerlongers ' ; 
and  I  well  recall  a  memorable  fight,  which  he  waged  on 
our  frog  pond  in  the  winter  season  at  the  time  of  skating, 
with  a  big,  bluff,  strong  champion  of  the  '  downerlongers/ 
This  champion  was  a  bigger  boy  than  my  brother,  and 
the  battle  was  almost  an  uneven  one  for  that  reason. 
But  Edward  came  off  with  all  honors,  as  it  was  deemed  a 
drawn  battle,  and  he  never  knew  when  he  was  licked. 

"Although  most  intelligent,  my  brother  when  a  boy 
never  cared  much  about  books  or  was  much  of  a  general 
student ;  but,  where  he  was  interested,  in  natural  history 
and  other  matters,  he  was  a  good  reader. 


MR.  MOSELEY  IN  BOYHOOD 


SAILING  BEFORE  THE  MAST  9 

"The  spirit  of  adventure  was  always  strong  in  him 
and  although  my  father  would  have  been  glad  to  send 
him  to  college,  he  early  caught  the  fever  to  go  to  sea. 
It  was  no  use  combating  it,  for  go  he  must.  So  he  was 
provided  with  a  good  outfit  and  shipped  as  a  boy  before 
the  mast  aboard  the  ship  Coringa,  which  belonged  to  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Goddard,  a  warm  friend  of  my  father." 

In  Edward's  boyhood,  Newburyport,  like  many  other 
New  England  ports,  was  turning  from  the  sea  and  its 
declining  trade  to  the  land  and  its  new  commerce  by  rail. 
The  chief  figures  of  the  town  were  the  retired  captains 
and  the  East  India  merchants,  who  had  transformed 
themselves  into  prosaic  manufacturers  and  bankers.  The 
leaders  in  the  community  had  served  their  earliest  ap- 
prenticeship on  ship  deck  and  in  far-away  ports,  the  travel- 
ing scholarship  of  that  period,  while  the  rank  and  file  of 
the  inhabitants  generally  had  been  to  sea.  They  were  all, 
indeed,  men  of  the  world. 

Edward  was  only  sixteen  when  he  felt  he  had  enough 
of  schools  and  books.  He  thought  it  was  time  for  him 
to  see  the  world  and  claim  his  traveling  scholarship.  He 
was  strong  in  body,  with  a  spirit  restless  for  adventure. 
But  ships  sailed  no  more  out  of  the  mouth  of  the  Merrimac 
to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  Another  call  than  that  of  the 
sea  sounded  in  the  boy's  ears.  The  drums  were  beating 
to  arms  in  the  Civil  War,  and  Edward  wanted  to  be  a 
soldier.  His  father,  however,  preferred  his  own  school, 
and  insisted  that  if  his  son  would  leave  home,  he  should 
go  to  sea.  Thus  Edward  became  a  sailor. 

With  a  tarpaulin  on  his  head,  hard  as  wood  and  var- 


10  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

nished  until  it  glistened,  a  pea-jacket,  trousers  flaring 
from  the  knees  down,  with  a  blue  woolen  shirt  and  a  flow- 
ing black  tie,  he  shipped  before  the  mast  in  the  ship 
Coringa  from  Boston,  laden  with  lumber  for  the  south 
coast  of  Africa  and  destined  finally  to  Calcutta.  His 
father  said  that  if  a  boy  was  to  become  a  good  sailor 
he  should  not  climb  through  the  cabin  window  but  through 
the  hawsehole ;  and  Edward  shipped  with  the  crew,  at 
nine  dollars  a  month. 

The  New  Englanders  having  forsaken  the  sea,  he  was 
one  of  the  last  of  the  sons  of  shipowners  to  sail  before 
the  mast.  All  but  one  of  his  sixteen  comrades  were  men 
of  foreign  birth  and  foreign  speech.  They  were  a  more 
than  ordinarily  rough  lot,  because  in  those  days  the  war 
was  attracting  the  best  of  their  craft.  When  the  sailor 
boy  first  greeted  his  companions  of  the  forecastle,  most  of 
them  were  still  land  sick  from  their  cruising  in  the  crooked 
streets  of  the  North  End  of  Boston.  Several  had  to  be 
hoisted  aboard  like  live  stock,  and  Edward's  opening 
lesson  in  his  new  school  was  a  demonstration  of  the  sober- 
ing effects  of  the  belaying  pin,  vigorously  applied  by  the 
captain  and  mate. 

It  was  in  truth  a  sudden  and  rude  transition  for  a  boy 
accustomed  to  a  cultivated  home  and  the  watchful  care 
of  gentle  parents.  As  he  saw  the  water  widening  its 
space  between  him  and  the  wharf,  he  leaned  over  the  rail 
in  an  agony  of  homesickness,  and  wept  into  Boston  harbor. 

The  Coringa  was  an  old-fashioned  East  Indiaman  that 
took  all  hands  to  shorten  sail.  A  voyage  on  her  entailed 
hardships  unknown  in  this  day.  There  was  then  little 


SAILING   BEFORE  THE  MAST  11 

law  or  sentiment  for  the  protection  of  sailors.  The  safe- 
guarding of  their  interests  was  in  its  infancy.  Punish- 
ments were  severe  to  the  degree  of  cruelty,  and  there  were 
few  or  no  restraints  on  the  brutal  passions  of  an  officer. 

Hygienic  provisions  were  unknown  or  ignored,  and  the 
living  accommodations  wretched.  There  was  yet  no 
canned  food,  and  the  sailor  could  tell  what  his  bill  of  fare 
would  be  months  in  advance.  Edward's  menu  consisted 
of  salt  pork  and  beef  the  color  of  mahogany,  and  sea  bis- 
cuits that  had  to  be  broken  with  mallets.  He  slept  hi 
the  forecastle  and  shared  in  every  way  the  common  lot. 

Sometimes  he  had  to  fight  to  hold  his  own  in  that 
rough  company.  Though  of  tender  years  and  gentle 
breeding,  he  was  strong  as  a  moose,  registering  one  hun- 
dred and  seventy-five  pounds  on  the  scales.  When  one 
of  the  sailors  drew  a  knife  on  him,  the  boy  struck  it  from 
his  hand  and  pounded  the  bully  to  the  floor.  The  mate, 
coming  upon  them,  whipped  the  aggressor  for  his  mur- 
derous conduct. 

It  was  a  long  and  hard  voyage,  but  Edward  felt  well 
rewarded  by  the  strange  sights  that  fascinated  him  while 
ashore  in  India.  He  contracted  Asiatic  dysentery  in 
Calcutta,  however,  and  had  a  most  miserable  homeward 
voyage.  The  captain,  foolishly  jealous  of  the  shipowner's 
son  and  fearing  he  might  be  put  over  him,  added  to  his 
tortures  by  nagging  him  fiendishly.  He  used  to  come  to 
his  cabin  with  the  air  of  wishing  to  hasten  his  death,  and 
cheerfully  report  that  the  sharks  were  following  the  ship 
and  waiting  for  his  body  to  be  thrown  over  to  them. 

The  poor  forlorn  boy  was  desperately  ill  and  felt  that 


12  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

the  one  thing  which  could  keep  him  alive  was  to  con- 
centrate his  mind  on  the  thought  that  he  must  see  his 
mother  again.  The  Bible  she  had  given  him  was  his 
only  diversion,  and,  to  his  lasting  profit,  he  read  it  con- 
stantly. For  five  months  he  was  out  of  sight  of  land, 
and  when  at  last  the  Coringa  entered  home  waters,  he  had 
to  be  carried  ashore,  half  wasted  away  with  the  fever. 
From  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  pounds  he  had  fallen 
away  to  ninety.  Only  careful  nursing  slowly  restored 
him  to  his  normal  health  and  strength. 

He  lived  to  pay  back  the  cruelly  foolish  captain  of  the 
Coringa,  but  not  in  the  captain's  own  hard  coin.  In 
after  years,  when  the  shipmaster  was  in  great  sorrow  and 
needed  the  pardon  and  favor  of  his  sailor,  he  received 
both  for  the  asking. 

Edward  was  gone  a  year  on  the  trying  voyage,  and 
learned  lessons  that  guided  him  throughout  his  life.  He 
had  run  the  gantlet  of  the  mobs,  as  Emerson  expressed 
it,  and,  removed  from  the  social  environment  in  which  he 
was  reared,  he  had  gained  in  the  rough-and-tumble  school 
of  the  forecastle  and  the  docks,  self-denial,  self-reliance 
and  that  vigorous  independence  which  ever  afterward 
stamped  his  character.  He  had  met  his  fellow-men  from 
many  countries  on  a  common  level,  regardless  of  race  and 
education,  and  while  living  their  life  with  them  he  made 
the  discovery,  as  he  always  said,  that  the  qualities  of 
manhood  are  not  confined  to  any  race  or  class  or  station. 

He  came  out  of  that  forecastle  a  thoroughgoing  demo- 
crat, as  free  from  the  spirit  of  caste  as  any  man  who 
ever  breathed.  Democracy  was  more  than  an  intel- 


SAILING  BEFORE  THE  MAST  13 

lectual  conviction  with  him.  It  was  an  emotion,  an 
instinct,  and  he  never  looked  down  or  up  to  any  man. 
With  years  and  experience,  he  grew  increasingly  careless 
and  innocent  of  the  lines  that  unhappily  divide  men,  al- 
though he  appreciated  and  attracted  the  society  of  culti- 
vated and  intellectual  individuals,  and  the  friendships  of 
his  life  defied  social  classification. 


CHAPTER  III 
VENTURES  AND  ADVENTURES 

SOME  time  after  his  return  from  the  East  Indies,  but 
before  he  was  well  established  on  his  land  legs,  Edward 
agreed  to  sail  for  the  northwest  coast  of  America  and  to 
Alaska  on  a  voyage  that  would  take  him  away  from  home 
five  years.  He  was  overruled  by  his  parents,  however, 
and  he  repressed  his  longing  for  the  sea.  His  ambition 
was  diverted  to  a  business  life  and,  entering  the  office  of 
the  Bartlett  Mills  in  Newburyport,  he  stayed  there  long 
enough  to  gain  some  knowledge  of  the  manufacture  of 
cotton  goods. 

Every  salt  breeze  that  blew  in  upon  him,  however,  and 
the  water,  stretching  away  from  every  cross  street,  dis- 
tracted and  tempted  him.  He  dallied  with  his  favorite 
element  by  making  a  small  venture  in  the  business  of 
mackerel  fishing,  taking  an  interest  in  some  vessels  en- 
gaged in  that  fishery.  When  he  left  the  mills,  he  gravi- 
tated toward  the  East  India  trade  and  was  for  a  while 
in  the  office  of  Rufus  Wills  and  Son  of  Boston.  After 
a  voyage  to  the  West  Indies,  he  made  a  connection  with 
the  noted  East  India  house  of  N.  and  B.  Goddard, 
where  he  continued  for  several  years,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  acquired  some  property  in  ships. 

The  counting  house,  however,  never  claimed  from  him 
a  whole-hearted  loyalty,  and  as  soon  as  he  was  twenty- 

14 


VENTURES  AND  ADVENTURES  15 

one  he  made  a  little  voyage  into  politics.  His  city,  the 
state,  and  the  country  were  Republican.  Perhaps  his 
innate  interest  in  the  under  dog  was  his  chief  reason  for 
going  over  to  the  Democrats. 

He  delighted  in  defying  social  prejudices  and  making 
friends  with  the  non-elect,  such  as  he  came  upon  in  the 
pursuit  of  his  sporting  interest  in  boxing,  in  horses,  dogs, 
and  cocks.  His  personal  popularity,  therefore,  more  than 
offset  the  unpopularity  of  his  party,  and  he  was  elected  to 
the  common  council  when  he  was  hardly  more  than  of  age. 
He  served  two  terms  in  that  body,  after  which  he  was 
for  two  successive  terms  an  alderman.  Although  the 
youngest  member  of  the  city  council,  he  led  the  move- 
ment for  funding  the  heavy  city  debt  and  felt  flattered 
to  be  called  "the  father  of  the  sinking  fund."  For  four- 
teen years  he  served  as  one  of  its  trustees. 

When  he  sought  promotion  to  a  seat  in  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  however,  political  lines  were  drawn 
more  sharply  against  his  party  in  that  wider  field,  and  he 
was  defeated,  although  complimented  with  the  largest 
vote  ever  cast  for  a  Democratic  candidate  in  his  district 
and  lacking  only  ten  votes  of  an  election.  As  the  Demo- 
cratic candidate  for  commissioner  of  insolvency,  he  met 
again  the  fate  to  which  Massachusetts  Democrats  were 
inured  in  that  period. 

Political  ambition  was  not  his  only  distraction  from 
business  in  those  days  of  his  young  manhood.  He  was 
in  love,  and  with  all  the  ardor  of  first  love.  His  choice 
had  fallen  on  one  whom  he  had  known  from  boyhood, 
and  probably  it  would  not  have  been  easy  for  him  to  say 


16  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

when  she  ceased  to  be  his  playmate  and  bloomed  into  a 
sweetheart.  Sailor-like,  he  had  her  name  tattooed  on  his 
arm.  Her  house  was  to  him  like  another  home,  and  after 
his  schoolday  battles  he  used  to  go  to  her  mother  to  have 
his  face  washed  and  his  clothes  sewed  up  before  ventur- 
ing to  present  himself  at  his  own  home. 

He  wished  to  marry  at  twenty,  but  the  enterprise  did 
not  commend  itself  to  his  father's  trained  judgment  as  a 
financier.  He  was  told  that  he  should  not  marry  until 
he  had  $10,000,  and,  like  the  great  historian  of  Rome, 
"he  sighed  as  a  lover  but  obeyed  as  a  son."  When  he 
was  only  twenty-three,  however,  he  was  enabled  by  some 
successful  ventures  to  meet  his  father's  standard  of 
prudence  and  realize  the  dearest  hope  of  his  heart.  Kate 
Montague,  daughter  of  Joseph  Newmarch  and  Sarah 
Bridges  Prescott,  became  his  wife  on  April  13,  1869, 
bringing  to  him  a  girlhood  love  that  never  grew  old,  a 
rare  devotion,  and  the  sound  counsels  of  a  good  woman's 
wisdom.  From  her  he  always  had  encouragement  in  his 
best  endeavor,  and  her  self-forgetfulness  was  a  large  fac- 
tor in  his  success. 

Mrs.  Moseley  is  a  lineal  descendant  of  Colonel  William 
Pepperell  and  of  Judge  Joseph  Newmarch,  and  four  of 
her  mother's  ancestors  came  over  in  the  first  voyage  of 
the  Mayflower.  Three  children  were  born  to  this  mar- 
riage, of  whom  only  one,  Katherine  Prescott  Moseley, 
survives. 

The  glory  of  the  East  India  trade  having  faded,  and 
office  duties  never  having  interested  him,  Mr.  Moseley 
went  into  the  southern  pine  lumber  business  in  1872, 


VENTURES  AND  ADVENTURES       17 

when  he  was  twenty-six  years  old.  With  Mr.  William  D. 
Wheelwright,  he  formed  the  firm  of  Moseley  and  Wheel- 
wright in  Boston  and  took  upon  himself  the  more  congenial 
task  of  looking  after  the  outside  activities  of  the  concern. 
The  new  firm  quickly  built  up  a  large  and  constantly 
increasing  business,  in  furtherance  of  which  Mr.  Moseley 
traveled  in  the  Gulf  states,  Central  and  South  America, 
the  West  Indies  and  Europe.  His  firm  always  had  under 
charter  a  fleet  of  vessels,  which  loaded  at  southern  ports 
in  the  United  States  under  his  direction.  While  his 
principal  headquarters  were  at  Pascagoula,  Mississippi, 
he  came  to  know  the  entire  yellow  pine  region  and  all  its 
mill  men. 

One  of  Moseley  and  Wheelwright's  notable  contracts 
was  to  furnish  flooring  and  planking  for  the  Centennial 
Exposition  at  Philadelphia  in  1876.  Another  interesting 
contract  they  undertook  was  to  build  a  palace  for  the 
president  of  the  republic  of  Hayti.  Mr.  Moseley  went  to 
Port  au  Prince  to  superintend  the  construction.  There 
he  won  his  way  into  the  confidence  of  the  dusky  po- 
tentates and  was  in  full  enjoyment  of  his  experience  in 
the  inner  councils  of  the  government,  when  a  revolution 
broke  out.  The  high  official  with  whom  he  had  the  closest 
relations  having  been  shot,  he  deemed  it  prudent  to  flee 
the  island  and  abandon  the  contract  for  the  palace. 

On  one  of  his  West  Indian  journeys  he  was  stricken 
with  yellow  fever  at  St.  Thomas,  but  something  more 
perilous  still  befell  him  on  a  visit  to  Cuba  in  the  midst  of 
the  Ten  Years'  War,  the  unsuccessful  revolution  that 
preceded  the  more  recent  and  successful  revolt  against 


18  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Spanish  rule.  He  landed  at  Santiago  from  Jamaica  early 
in  1874,  shortly  after  the  fifty-one  men  of  the  filibustering 
vessel  Virginius  had  been  stood  in  a  row  there  by  the 
Spaniards  and  shot  down  as  pirates.  He  arrived  to  find 
the  Spanish  military  burning  with  hatred  of  Americans 
as  sympathizers  with  the  Cuban  rebels. 

His  destination  was  Havana,  where  he  had  some  im- 
portant business  to  do  for  his  firm,  but  he  was  warned 
on  all  sides  against  making  the  journey.  An  American 
newspaper  correspondent  had  recently  undertaken  it  and 
mysteriously  disappeared.  The  American  consul  earnestly 
advised  him,  and  the  consul's  good  wife,  with  tears  in  her 
eyes,  begged  him  not  to  go.  He  was  told  that  he  might 
be  murdered  on  the  ship  and  his  body  thrown  overboard. 
Nevertheless,  he  went,  not  necessarily  from  a  foolhardy 
love  of  danger,  but  in  the  easy  confidence  characteristic 
of  the  man,  that  he  could  take  care  of  himself  in  any 
situation. 

Carrying  a  revolver  and  a  gimlet  dagger,  he  boarded 
the  coasting  vessel  Gloria,  filled  with  Spanish  officers  and 
soldiers.  He  was  the  only  civilian  in  the  company,  but 
he  reached  Manzanillo  without  having  had  the  least 
trouble  with  his  fellow-voyagers.  While  the  Gloria  lay 
at  the  Manzanillo  wharf,  he  went  ashore  to  attend  to 
some  business  which  took  him  to  the  home  of  the  Ameri- 
can consular  agent.  There  he  was  led  into  a  dark  room, 
and  the  consular  agent,  who  was  a  German  resident  in 
Cuba,  made  a  long  appeal  to  his  love  of  liberty  as  an 
American. 

The  patriots  of  Manzanillo  wished  to  make  a  certain 


VENTURES  AND  ADVENTURES       19 

important  communication  to  a  secret  friend  of  the  revo- 
lution in  Havana.  The  agent  begged  Mr.  Moseley  to 
deliver  the  message  as  a  service  to  the  cause  of  liberty, 
and  he  consented  to  do  it.  As  the  agent  dictated  it,  he 
wrote  the  message  on  the  last  leaf  of  a  small  account 
book  and  then  pasted  the  leaf  to  the  cover. 

After  his  dinner  of  tainted  salt  cod,  cooked  in  rancid 
oil,  and  spoiled  jerked  beef  from  Buenos  Ayres,  another 
patriot  suddenly  and  silently  made  his  appearance  before 
the  new-found  friend  of  Cuba  libre.  This  man  held  out 
two  letters,  but  Mr.  Moseley  was  wary  of  him  and  paid 
no  attention  to  his  approaches,  whereupon  the  agent 
said,  "They  are  all  right ;  take  them."  They  were  to  be 
delivered  to  the  same  man  in  Havana,  and,  although  Mr. 
Moseley  felt  he  was  getting  deeper  and  deeper  into  the 
plot,  his  spirit  of  adventure  was  aroused  and  he  accepted 
this  added  service.  Returning  to  the  Gloria,  he  cut  a 
neat  slit  in  one  of  his  bags  and  hid  the  two  letters  between 
the  lining  and  the  leather. 

After  another  untroubled  voyage,  surrounded  by 
Spanish  uniforms,  he  went  ashore  again  at  Cienfuegos, 
where  he  met  some  ship  captains  he  knew,  and  he  was 
known  in  those  days  to  most  of  the  men  who  sailed  in 
West  Indian  waters.  While  he  was  speaking  with  the 
captains,  two  officers  came  to  him  and  through  an  inter- 
preter told  him  that,  although  they  were  wearing  the 
uniform  of  Spain,  they  were  revolutionists  at  heart. 
Would  Senor  have  the  kindness  to  inform  them  how  to 
get  into  communication  with  the  nearest  insurgent 
army? 


20  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

"Don't  betray  us,"  the  spokesman  added,  in  a  pleading 
tone,  "or  we  will  be  shot." 

"I  am  a  merchant,"  Mr.  Moseley  cautiously  answered, 
"and  know  nothing  about  this  revolution.  I  have  no 
information  to  give  and  no  advice,  except  to  say  that  if 
I  were  a  Spaniard,  I  would  remain  one." 

"Those  two  beggars  followed  me  to  my  ship,"  he  said, 
in  recalling  the  experience,  "and  they  with  others  exam- 
ined my  baggage  and  searched  my  person,  stripping 
me  to  the  skin.  They  found  nothing,  not  even  my 
heart,  for  that  was  in  my  throat.  I  saw  that  I  had 
brought  myself  under  official  suspicion,  and  I  knew  that 
if  any  treasonable  correspondence  was  found  on  me,  I 
would  probably  be  shot  down  like  a  dog." 

At  Surgidero,  where  he  left  the  boat  to  take  the  train 
for  Havana,  he  was  searched  again,  and  for  a  week  after 
his  arrival  at  the  latter  city  he  thought  it  best  not  to 
deliver  the  dispatches  of  the  revolutionists.  When  at 
last  he  presented  himself  to  the  revolutionary  agent,  he 
moistened  the  leaf  of  his  little  account  book,  tore  it  out, 
and  gave  it  to  him  with  the  two  letters,  and  thus  fulfilled 
the  delicate  duty  thrust  upon  him  in  the  name  of  liberty. 

From  southern  seas  to  northern  wilds,  the  scene  sud- 
denly shifted  in  his  life.  Owing  to  some  unfortunate 
loans,  his  firm  was  obliged  to  protect  itself  by  taking  over 
the  township  of  Jerusalem  in  Maine,  and  there  in  the 
wilderness  he  passed  much  of  his  time  through  three 
years.  He  went  into  the  woods  in  the  fall  with  his  teams 
and  his  big  crew  of  men,  and  in  the  spring  the  logs  they 
had  cut  were  driven  out  and  down  the  Kennebec.  He 


VENTURES  AND  ADVENTURES       21 

shared  the  lot  of  his  loggers  and  drivers,  and  there  never 
was  a  mark  of  dress  or  manner  to  distinguish  him  from  his 
men.  His  firm  had  leased  a  mill  on  the  dam  at  Augusta, 
and  one  night  when  a  heavy  freshet  came,  he  could  see 
in  the  lightning  flashes  almost  the  entire  cut  of  several 
million  feet  of  logs  going  over  the  dam.  There  were  no 
booms  out,  and  the  logs  were  scattered  and  borne  to  sea. 

This,  with  other  misfortunes  befalling  the  firm  at  the 
tune,  forced  the  failure  of  Moseley  and  Wheelwright. 
Among  the  liabilities  were  some  debts  which  the  partners 
regarded  as  debts  of  honor,  representing  money  lent 
them  personally.  They  agreed  together  that  these  must 
be  paid  in  full,  and  they  entirely  wiped  out  that  class  of 
indebtedness  within  three  years. 

They  had  made  themselves  the  leaders  in  the  southern 
timber  trade,  and  in  order  to  carry  on  operations  the 
firm  was  reorganized  as  Moseley,  Wheelwright  and  Com- 
pany, Mr.  A.  M.  Stetson  having  joined  them.  Shortly 
afterward,  Mr.  Wheelwright  took  into  his  own  hands  the 
New  York  interests  of  the  partnership  and  surrendered 
certain  of  his  Boston  interests  to  the  new  firm  of  Stetson, 
Moseley  and  Company. 

The  truth  is  that  while  Mr.  Moseley,  by  his  energy, 
industry,  intelligence  and  enterprise  had  shown  himself 
capable  of  building  up  a  large  if  not  profitable  business, 
he  had  yet  to  find,  when  he  was  forty,  his  real  business, 
the  business  for  which  his  life  thus  far  had  been  only  a 
preparation. 


CHAPTER  IV 
IN  THE  LEGISLATURE 

STETSON,  MOSELEY  and  COMPANY  had  a  lumber  yard 
and  sawmill  in  South  Boston,  and  Mr.  Moseley  lived  in 
that  district,  in  Thomas  Park  on  the  slope  of  Dorchester 
Heights,  where  Washington  mounted  the  cannon  that 
drove  the  British  out  of  Boston. 

A  workman  in  his  lumber  yard,  a  man  from  Maine, 
told  Mr.  Moseley  one  morning  that  he  had  to  support 
eight  children  on  $1.25  a  day,  and  that  he  had  not  been 
inside  a  theater  since  his  marriage.  "I  had  one  child," 
Mr.  Moseley  explained  when  telling  of  that  interview 
with  his  workman,  "and  spent  more  than  $1.25  a  day 
foolishly."  He  went  to  the  man  the  next  morning,  told 
him  to  get  the  men  in  the  yard  together  and  ask  for 
$1.75.  "My  partner  will  consult  me/'  he  said,  "and  I 
will  advise  him  to  give  you  the  increase." 

The  unique  strike,  thus  worked  up  by  the  employer 
against  himself,  was  a  complete  success  for  both  sides. 
It  brought  the  men  an  increased  wage  and  brought  Mr. 
Moseley  a  long  step  nearer  his  life  work.  The  Knights 
of  Labor  were  now  in  full  swing  and  soon  to  be  nearly 
two  million  strong  under  the  leadership  of  T.  V.  Powderly. 
The  problem  of  labor  was  looming  large.  Association 
with  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Richard  S.  Spofford  of  New- 
buryport,  a  distinguished  lawyer,  who  was  a  states'  rights 

22 


IN  THE  LEGISLATURE  23 

Democrat  and  who  had  presided  over  a  Labor  Conven- 
tion, was  not  without  influence  upon  Mr.  Moseley  in  this 
matter. 

Although  born  to  wealth,  Mr.  Moseley  had  lived  the 
life  of  the  man  who  works  with  his  hands,  in  the  fore- 
castle and  in  the  logging  camp.  As  an  employer  of  large 
numbers  of  workers,  there  never  was  a  line  between  him 
and  his  employees.  His  own  experience  had  impressed 
him  with  the  belief  that  the  labor  problem  could  be  solved 
only  by  the  intoduction  of  a  freer  democracy  in  the  in- 
dustries of  the  country,  by  employers  mingling  with  their 
men,  studying  their  wants,  and  finally  making  them  allies 
instead  of  foes. 

To  the  dismay  of  some  and  the  disgust  of  others  in  the 
employing  element,  he  joined  the  Knights  of  Labor.  He 
was  soon  chosen  master  workman  of  a  big  South  Boston 
assembly,  of  which  nearly  all  his  employees  were  mem- 
bers. The  meetings  became  the  forum  for  the  discus- 
sion of  all  sorts  of  economic  questions  by  the  workmen 
in  most  of  the  trades  and  factories  of  the  district,  where 
Mr.  Moseley  was  largely  instrumental  in  increasing  the 
membership  of  the  Knights  of  Labor  to  several  thousand. 
Strange  as  it  seemed  to  have  an  employer  among  them, 
Mr.  Powderly  and  other  leaders  could  not  doubt  his 
earnestness.  He  won  their  confidence  and  became  an 
officer  in  the  district  assembly. 

It  was  in  the  same  period  that  Mr.  Moseley  was  drawn 
into  politics  again.  His  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Spofford,  was 
the  Democratic  candidate  for  Congress  on  the  ticket  with 
Grover  Cleveland  in  1884,  and  Mr.  Moseley  managed 


24  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

the  campaign.  He  was  also  chosen  a  member  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  Democratic  state  committee. 
Mr.  SpofforcTs  spirited  fight  was  unavailing  in  a  strongly 
Republican  district.  He  did  not  go  to  Congress,  but  his 
brother-in-law  and  manager  went  to  the  Legislature, 
being  elected  in  1885.  Still  claiming  a  legal  residence  in 
Newburyport,  Mr.  Moseley  was  chosen  from  that  city. 

Having  had  a  large  experience  hi  shipping  by  rail,  he 
was  appointed  a  member  of  the  railroad  committee. 
Although  he  did  not  often  address  the  House,  his  intelli- 
gence and  energy  made  him  at  once  an  influential  and 
useful  member.  He  soon  found  the  hidden  wires  that 
moved  men,  and  developed  a  genius  for  pulling  them. 

Regulative  legislation  concerning  the  conditions  of 
labor,  then  still  in  its  infancy,  appealed  to  him  strongly, 
and  he  voted  for  woman  suffrage.  Being  on  the  railroad 
committee,  his  attention  naturally  was  directed  toward 
proposals  for  safer  car  couplers,  brakes,  and  frogs.  He 
introduced  and  gave  a  good  deal  of  time  to  promoting 
the  passage  of  an  industrial  arbitration  bill.  When  he 
actively  supported  an  employers'  liability  bill,  introduced 
by  a  friend  and  fellow-member,  Mr.  Philip  J.  Doherty 
of  Boston,  great  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  for  the 
purpose  of  compelling  him  to  change  his  position.  While 
the  British  Parliament,  under  the  leadership  of  Glad- 
stone, had  enacted  a  modern  statute  on  this  subject  to 
meet  modern  conditions,  the  law  in  republican  America 
had  not  advanced  a  step  since  the  dawn  of  the  new  era 
of  industrialism. 

That  Mr.  Moseley,  himself  an  employer  of  labor  and 


IN  THE  LEGISLATURE  25 

president  of  the  Mechanics'  Exchange  of  Boston,  should 
advocate  a  more  liberal  law,  excited  violent  indignation 
in  certain  quarters.  A  delegation  from  the  Master 
Builders'  Exchange,  where  all  the  builders  of  Boston  met, 
went  to  him  and  told  him  that  his  support  of  labor  meas- 
ures, particularly  the  employers'  liability  bill,  had  dis- 
appointed and  displeased  his  associates  in  the  business 
world.  As  an  employer,  he  knew  what  the  latter  bill, 
at  least,  meant  to  the  pockets  of  employers.  The  delega- 
tion demanded  that  he  not  only  vote  against  the  bill, 
but  rise  in  the  House  and  oppose  it. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  such  an  appeal  to 
such  a  man  only  served  to  make  him  stand. firmer.  He 
was  no  longer  content  merely  to  vote  for  the  bill  and  to 
defend  it  in  the  lobby,  but  he  determined  to  advocate  it 
on  the  floor,  and  when  he  spoke  he  announced  that  he 
spoke  as  an  employer.  For  this  insurgency  he  was  told 
that  he  should  never  again  be  permitted  to  enter  the 
Master  Builders'  Exchange,  a  privilege  indispensable  to 
the  successful  conduct  of  a  lumber  business  at  that  time. 
He  accepted  the  consequences  to  himself  without  com- 
plaining, but  he  did  not  feel  that  his  firm  should  be  made 
to  suffer  on  his  account,  and  he  took  steps  to  withdraw 
from  the  partnership  with  Mr.  Stetson. 

If  he  had  failed  to  serve  his  private  interest  in  the 
Legislature,  he  had  served  the  public  interest  to  the 
satisfaction  of  his  constituents,  who  again  elected  him  to 
the  House  in  1886.  It  was  in  the  midst  of  his  second 
session  that  the  opportunity  for  a  wider  service  came  to 
him,  the  service  to  which  he  gave  his  life. 


CHAPTER  V 
FINDING  HIS  PLACE 

THE  Interstate  Commerce  Law  was  enacted  on  Feb- 
ruary 4,  1887,  a  full  hundred  years  after  the  framing  of 
the  Federal  constitution,  which  gave  the  Congress  the 
power  "to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign  nations,  and 
among  the  several  states."  Congress  had  from  the  out- 
set exercised  its  power  to  regulate  commerce  with  foreign 
nations,  but  it  did  not  approach  its  duty  toward  "com- 
merce among  the  several  states"  until  after  a  cen- 
tury of  inaction.  Meanwhile  the  states  themselves  were 
forbidden  to  interfere  with  that  commerce. 

When  New  York  granted  Robert  Fulton  and  his  asso- 
ciates the  exclusive  right  to  navigate  the  waters  of  that 
state  with  steamboats,  the  great  problem  of  interstate 
commerce  was  born.  Fulton's  company  contended  that 
no  boats  but  theirs  could  navigate  the  waters  of  New 
York,  even  to  carry  passengers  and  freight  across  the 
Hudson  River  from  New  Jersey;  but  Chief  Justice 
Marshall  denied  the  authority  of  the  state  and  upheld 
that  of  the  nation  over  commerce  passing  from  one 
state  to  another.  That  merely  local  question  settled,  the 
problem  did  not  present  itself  again  for  many  years. 

It  was  hardly  possible  and  not  at  all  necessary  for 
Congress  to  regulate  interstate  commerce  by  stage- 

26 


FINDING  HIS  PLACE  27 

coaches.  Until  the  steam  railroad  came,  there  was  no 
interstate  commerce  by  land  which  demanded  national 
attention.  Even  the  railroads  at  first  were  so  local  in 
character  that  few  of  them  crossed  state  lines.  They 
ran  only  short  distances,  and  passengers  and  freight  were 
transferred  from  road  to  road. 

When  the  era  of  combination  came,  the  little  roads 
were  joined  together  to  form  the  big  trunk  lines  that  now 
often  span  half  the  width  of  the  continent  and  do  busi- 
ness in  a  score  of  states.  As  these  great  lines  of  com- 
merce spread  over  the  nation,  they  escaped  all  govern- 
mental control  and  literally  became  a  law  unto  themselves. 
The  states  were  forbidden  to  interfere  with  them,  and 
the  nation  neglected  its  power  and  duty. 

When  New  Jersey  gave  a  certain  company  the  exclu- 
sive privilege  of  carrying  passengers  and  freight  across 
the  state  on  the  line  of  travel  between  New  York  and 
Philadelphia,  Congress  first  woke  to  its  responsibility  and 
passed  a  law  in  1866  forbidding  a  state  to  obstruct  the 
flow  of  commerce  between  the  states,  after  which  the 
national  Legislature  fell  into  another  sleep  of  twenty 
years.  Some  western  states  seeking  to  regulate  the 
charges  on  their  products  shipped  to  the  New  York 
market,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  forbade 
them  and  declared  that  they  were  usurping  the  functions 
of  Congress;  but  Congress  slept  on  while  the  abuses 
grew,  and  the  Standard  Oil,  the  sugar,  and  other  cor- 
porations fattened  into  giants  on  rebates  and  all  manner 
of  unjust  favors,  which  the  railroads,  often  under  coer- 
cion, yielded  to  big  shippers. 


28  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Not  excessive  rates,  but  unequal  rates  and  facilities, 
were  the  worst  offenses  against  justice  and  the  general 
welfare.  The  railroads  had  become,  under  the  protec- 
tion of  the  law,  the  highways  of  the  nation,  even  as  the 
streets  are  the  highways  of  the  city.  That  one  citizen 
should  have  the  use  of  the  national  highways  on  better 
terms  than  another,  was  as  demoralizing  and  intolerable 
as  if  a  municipality  should  favor  one  citizen  at  the  ex- 
pense of  another  in  the  use  of  the  municipal  highways, 
telling  one  merchant  or  truckman  or  cabman  that  he 
could  ply  his  trade  in  the  streets  to  the  exclusion  of  a 
competitor. 

To  establish  equality  on  the  rail  and  to  "  regulate  com- 
merce among  the  states,"  Congress  passed  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Law  and  established  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission. 

Being  virtually  out  of  business  at  the  time  and  his 
party  in  power  at  Washington,  Mr.  Moseley,  complying 
with  the  advice  of  his  brother-in-law,  Mr.  Spofford,  who 
outlined  a  plan  of  procedure  and  gave  him  letters  to 
leading  statesmen,  applied  to  President  Cleveland  for 
appointment  as  one  of  the  five  members  of  the  proposed 
commission.  Another  of  his  advisers  and  supporters  was 
his  friend,  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  who  personally  indorsed 
him  to  the  President.  The  work  made  a  special  appeal 
to  his  interest,  and  his  fitness  for  the  place  as  well  as  his 
popularity  brought  him  the  cordial  indorsement  of  nearly 
the  entire  membership  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature, 
regardless  of  party  lines,  including  the  lieutenant-gov- 
ernor and  the  president  of  the  Senate,  both  Republicans, 


FINDING  HIS  PLACE  29 

the  mayor  of  Boston,  prominent  business  men,  and  rail- 
road officials  as  well  as  labor  leaders. 

The  act  limited  the  President  to  the  appointment  of 
only  three  members  from  his  own  party,  and  Mr.  Cleve- 
land felt  that  the  Democratic  places  should  go  to  the 
Democratic  sections,  and  that  one  of  the  two  Republicans 
whom  he  was  required  to  appoint  should  come  from  Re- 
publican New  England.  This  being  his  view  of  the  mat- 
ter, he  could  not  consider  Mr.  Moseley  in  his  selection  of 
Commissioners. 

Mr.  Cleveland,  however,  had  his  own  original  methods 
of  utilizing  men,  and  if  a  man  commended  himself  to  his 
shrewd  judgment  of  character,  he  was  likely  to  keep  him 
in  mind  until  he  had  found  some  place  for  him  where  he 
could  be  useful  to  his  administration.  He  could  not,  in 
accordance  with  his  geographical  rule,  make  Mr.  Moseley 
an  Interstate  Commerce  Commissioner,  but  he  did  not 
forget  him. 

As  the  time  drew  near  for  the  organization  of  the  new 
body,  the  President  sent  for  Patrick  A.  Collins,  the  lead- 
ing Democratic  congressman  from  New  England  and 
chairman  of  the  Democratic  state  committee  of  Massa- 
chusetts, and  told  him  that  he  would  like  to  have  Mr. 
Moseley  appointed  Secretary  of  the  Commission.  Mr. 
Cleveland  was  very  much  in  earnest  in  his  desire  to  see 
the  Commission  well  started.  He  had  gone  outside  his 
party  to  select  for  the  chairmanship  the  ablest  available 
lawyer  in  the  country  having  an  acquaintance  with  the 
railway  business.  Thomas  M.  Cooley,  a  distinguished 
jurist  and  an  eminent  author  of  standard  works  on  cer- 


• 


30  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

tain  branches  of  law,  was  induced  to  resign  a  railway 
receivership,  which  was  paying  him  $25,000  a  year,  to 
become  chairman  of  the  Commission  at  a  salary  of  $7500, 
so  strongly  did  the  President  impress  him  with  his  sense 
of  the  importance  of  the  public  service  to  be  rendered. 

Mr.  Cleveland  told  Mr.  Collins  that  he  believed  the 
Secretaryship  would  prove  to  be  an  important  post,  and 
that  he  was  anxious  to  see  it  occupied  by  a  man  the 
equal  of  the  Commissioners  in  ability.  The  suggestion 
was  original  with  the  President,  and  it  took  Mr.  Collins 
and,  in  turn,  Mr.  Moseley  himself  by  surprise.  The 
latter,  in  response  to  a  summons,  went  to  Washington 
to  see  the  President,  whose  good  opinion  of  him  was  con- 
firmed by  their  interview. 

Acting  entirely  on  a  hint  from  the  White  House,  the 
Commissioners  at  their  first  meeting  on  April  19,  1887, 
elected  Edward  A.  Moseley,  Secretary.  Judge  Cooley 
was  chairman,  and  his  associates  on  the  Commission 
were  William  R.  Morrison  of  Illinois,  for  twenty  years  a 
Democratic  leader  in  Congress  and  until  within  a  few 
weeks  the  chairman  of  the  House  committee  on  ways  and 
means;  Augustus  Schoonmaker  of  New  York,  Aldace 
F.  Walker  of  Vermont,  and  Walter  L.  Bragg  of  Alabama. 


CHAPTER  VI 

THE  NEW  SECRETARY 

THE  new  Commission  was  in  a  difficult  situation.  No 
path  of  duty  had  been  blazed  for  it.  The  law  creating  it 
was  an  experiment  in  a  new  field  of  Federal  activity  and 
was  yet  to  be  tested  by  experience  and  interpreted  by  the 
courts.  Its  methods  of  procedure  remained  to  be  devised. 
Public  opinion  expected  wonders  to  be  performed,  while, 
on  the  other  hand,  the  railroads  conceded  little  or  no 
rightful  authority  to  the  Commission  to  meddle  in  what 
had  been  exclusively  their  own  business  for  half  a  century. 

The  Commissioners  were  strangers  to  one  another,  with 
ideas  and  temperaments  yet  to  be  harmonized.  Their 
executive  officer,  the  Secretary,  was  wholly  unknown  to 
all  of  them.  They  had  taken  him  on  President  Cleve- 
land's faith,  and  not  improbably  or  unreasonably  some 
of  them  may  have  regretted  that  they  had  not  been  left 
free  to  consult  their  own  personal  preferences. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  for  the  first  task  before  him, 
Mr.  Moseley  had  no  special  experience  and  no  natural 
aptitude.  This  was  the  work  of  establishing  the  routine 
of  his  office,  and  tangling  it  up  in  the  inevitable  red  tape 
of  a  governmental  bureau.  Those  were  the  very  things 
of  which  he  had  always  been  impatient  in  his  private 
business,  where  he  had  slighted  or  evaded  office  work  and 

31 


32  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

clerical  details  as  too  irksome  to  be  borne.  He  had 
chosen,  as  far  as  he  could,  to  live  his  life  out  under  the 
sky.  Now,  he  found  himself  primarily  in  the  relation  of 
a  clerk  to  a  court,  and  he  knew  nothing  of  law  and  judicial 
forms. 

His  innocence  of  official  formalities  was  peculiarly  try- 
ing to  Chairman  Cooley,  who  had  sat  for  thirty  years  on 
the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Michigan  and  had 
never  before  seen  a  high  officer  of  the  court  going  about 
his  duties  in  his  shirt  sleeves  merely  because  the  weather 
chanced  to  be  hot,  and  calling  out  to  his  assistants  in  the 
free  and  hearty  tones  of  a  logging  camp.  The  Secretary's 
manners  certainly  were  then  as  ever  most  unofficial, 
although  filled  with  the  spirit  of  kindness  and  simple 
courtesy.  In  his  first  contact  with  men,  he  was  not 
likely  to  appear  to  the  best  advantage.  He  was  never 
glib  of  tongue,  and,  while  boldly  self-reliant  and  inde- 
pendent, he  was  often  reserved  before  a  stranger  to  the 
point  of  seeming  shyness. 

More  than  one  of  the  Commissioners  shared  Judge 
Cooley's  disappointment  in  him  in  those  early  months, 
when  he  and  they  were  working  out  their  novel  problem 
each  in  his  own  way.  The  misunderstanding,  which  is 
both  amusing  and  pathetic  in  the  light  of  his  subsequent 
relations  with  them  and  success  in  his  office,  nearly  cul- 
minated in  a  direct  request  to  the  President  that  he 
permit  the  Commission  to  make  a  change  in  the  Secretary- 
ship. Mr.  Moseley's  readiness  to  take  responsibility  in 
the  absence  of  the  Commission  from  the  city  only  alarmed 
the  Chairman,  and  when  in  due  time  the  doubters  saw 


THE  NEW  SECRETARY  33 

order  in  the  affairs  of  the  bureau  miraculously  emerging 
from  chaos,  they  still  doubted,  and  suspected  that  some 
subordinate  of  the  Secretary  must  be  bringing  it  forth. 
When  at  length  —  and  it  was  not  long  —  they  came  to 
know  the  man,  his  versatility,  his  energy,  his  persistence, 
his  sound  judgment,  his  knowledge  of  men,  his  loyalty, 
the  Commission  gave  him  its  confidence  without  measure 
and  took  him  into  its  inner  councils. 

Reports  of  the  early  dissatisfaction  with  him  had 
reached  the  White  House,  and  President  Cleveland  was 
gratified  now  by  the  proved  fitness  of  the  man  whom  he 
had  chosen  for  the  Commission.  He  always  regarded 
Mr.  Moseley  with  pride  as  one  of  "my  boys,"  and  Col. 
Daniel  S.  Lamont,  Secretary  to  the  President,  said  in  a 
letter  under  date  of  July  5,  1888,  "We  all  like  Moseley 
very  much,  and  he  is  everywhere  here  respected  and 
appreciated." 

The  venerable  and  learned  chairman  of  the  Commis- 
sion leaned  on  the  Secretary  with  somewhat  of  the  trust 
and  affection  of  a  father  with  his  son.  In  their  drives 
and  in  their  evenings  together,  the  Judge  reasoned  out 
the  underlying  principles  of  laws  in  their  relation  to 
commerce,  and  soon  found  an  apt  pupil  in  his  lay  com- 
panion, and  a  vigorous  and  clear-headed  adviser  as  to  the 
practical  aspect  of  the  problems  with  which  his  theories 
dealt.  He  urged  and  aided  him  to  study  law  and  become 
a  member  of  the  bar. 

Their  correspondence,  when  the  chairman  was  away 
from  Washington,  gives  glimpses  of  the  unusual  intimacy 
that  grew  between  these  men,  separated  by  the  gulf  of 


34  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

years  and  personal  experience.  When  Judge  Cooley  was 
compelled  by  ill  health  to  resign  from  the  Commission 
in  1891,  he  wrote  to  the  Secretary,  "I  shall  ever  cherish 
with  the  liveliest  sentiments  of  affection  and  respect  the 
recollection  of  my  association  with  you  while  my  con- 
nection with  the  Commission  continued/'  It  is  well 
within  bounds  to  say  that  this  friendship  was  the  closest 
and  warmest  that  Judge  Cooley  formed  in  the  course  of 
his  service  in  Washington,  and  it  lasted  the  remaining 
years  of  his  life. 

This  conquest  was  repeated  by  the  Secretary  in  his 
relations  with  Judge  Cooley 's  associates  on  the  Commis- 
sion and  with  each  of  their  successors  through  the  many 
years  of  his  connection  with  the  body.  He  made  himself 
the  friend  of  all,  the  new  Commissioners  turning  to  him 
as  a  safe  guide,  and  the  Commission  as  a  whole  confid- 
ing in  his  experience,  discretion,  and  ability,  looking  to 
him  for  counsel  in  all  things  from  the  smallest  personal 
matters  to  the  gravest  public  problems. 

"I  wish  you  would  please  select  a  more  suitable  and 
agreeable  apartment  for  my  family  before  we  return  for 
the  winter ;  my  wife  relies  on  your  taste."  That  is  one 
request  from  a  Commissioner  to  the  Secretary  which  gives 
us  a  glimpse  of  the  unofficial  responsibilities  and  tasks 
that  he  cheerfully  bore,  and  there  are  other  similar  letters 
and  telegrams  to  the  same  effect :  "  Please  order  the  gas 
turned  on" ;  "As  you  know  almost  everything,  can  you 
find  out  whether  I  can  get  a  couple  of  good  servants  in 
Washington,  a  cook  and  a  second  girl  ?  " 

One  of  his  own  letters  to  a  commissioner  who  was 


THE  NEW  SECRETARY  35 

building  a  house  in  his  home  town  is  characteristic  of 
his  many-sided  relations  with  the  members  of  the  Com- 
mission:  " Don't  hurry  it.  The  longer  it  is  in  building, 
in  the  same  proportion  the  longer  it  will  stand.  Then 
again  be  sure  that  everything  is  dry.  Unless  your  lum- 
ber is  well  seasoned  and  dry,  it  is,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  always  a  serious  annoyance.  The  mitered  joints 
come  apart,  the  floor  shrinks,  etc.  Where  one  is  putting 
up  anything  like  panel  work,  it  is  an  excellent  idea  to 
put  on  a  coat  of  the  cheapest  kind  of  paint  on  the  back 
before  nailing,  as  it  prevents  the  moisture  from  coming 
out  of  the  wood.  I  think  there  is  a  tremendous  lot  of 
fun  in  building  a  house,  and  you  are  apt  to  have  more 
pleasure  in  building  than  in  lodging  in  it.  So,  unless  you 
have  got  other  business  in  view,  I  would  drag  it  along  as 
long  as  possible." 

Another  Commissioner,  in  writing  him  in  a  vacation 
season,  said :  "  Since  everybody  is  to  be  gone,  you  will  be 
able  to  have  your  own  way  without  fighting  for  it.  May 
you  rest  in  peace  !" 

No  doubt  the  Secretary  did  the  homely  and  useful 
kindnesses  requested  of  him  as  gladly  and  effectively  as 
he  conducted  difficult  negotiations  with  Congress  and  its 
committees  and  with  the  great  departments  on  behalf 
of  the  Commission,  which  relied  on  his  diplomacy  and 
energy  to  promote  its  ends  everywhere  in  Washington, 
and  even  constituted  him  its  envoy  to  the  White  House 
on  many  important  and  delicate  occasions. 

Whatever  the  difficulty,  and  however  badly  tangled, 
the  Commission  always  felt  warranted  in  assuming  that 


36  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

"Moseley  will  fix  it  up."  It  was  by  no  means  unusual 
for  him  to  see  the  President  regarding  the  reappointment 
of  Commissioners,  and  to  bring  back  welcome  assurances. 
Even  when  his  efforts  failed  of  success,  they  were  so  whole- 
hearted as  not  to  fail  of  appreciation  on  the  part  of  the 
disappointed  member,  one  such,  for  example,  writing  him 
hi  these  terms  of  gratefulness :  "I  want  you  to  know  how 
very  highly  I  appreciate  your  earnest  and  sincere  efforts 
in  behalf  of  my  reappointment.  I  feel  that  you  did  all 
that  possibly  could  be  done,  and  I  trust  that  the  day  may 
come  when  I  can  reciprocate  your  great  kindness." 

Mr.  Moseley  was  a  militant  Democrat  in  the  begin- 
ning and  a  devoted  Cleveland  man.  When  the  campaign 
of  1888  came  and  Mr.  Cleveland  was  up  for  reelection, 
he  had  been  in  Washington  somewhat  more  than  a  year, 
and  was  well  established  in  the  regard  and  confidence  of 
the  President,  Colonel  Lamont,  and  those  in  the  inner 
circle.  His  eager  interest  in  Cleveland's  success  led  him 
to  give  the  President  a  piece  of  advice  which  probably 
changed  one  chapter  in  the  history  of  the  time. 

There  was  a  vacancy  in  the  Chief-Justiceship  of  the 
United  States,  and  it  was  persistently  reported  that 
Edward  J.  Phelps  of  Vermont  was  to  be  appointed  to  that 
exalted  office.  Mr.  Phelps,  who  was  Minister  to  Eng- 
land, was  in  Washington  apparently  to  receive  the  honor. 
The  senators  from  his  state,  Messrs.  Edmunds  and 
Morrill,  had  signified  their  willingness  to  give  him  the 
two  Republican  votes  that  any  appointee  must  have  to  be 
confirmed  by  the  Senate  where  the  Democrats  were  in  a 
minority* 


THE  NEW  SECRETARY  37 

It  was  in  the  period  when  Parnell's  campaign  in  behalf 
of  Irish  Home  Rule  had  aroused  the  Irish  race  at  home 
and  abroad,  and  citizens  of  Irish  birth  or  descent  in  this 
country  were  extremely  sensitive  regarding  our  relations 
with  the  British  Government.  Through  Mr.  Moseley's 
friendship  for  John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  who,  although  a  poet 
and  not  a  politician,  was  the  influential  editor  of  the 
Boston  Pilot,  an  Irish  Catholic  journal  of  national  circu- 
lation at  the  time,  he  was  conversant  with  the  opinions 
and  feelings  of  citizens  of  that  race  and  faith.  He  knew 
that  Mr.  Phelps'  deportment  in  England  had  given 
serious  offense  to  the  tens  of  thousands  of  organized  sup- 
porters in  this  country  of  the  Home  Rule  cause. 

Others  in  Washington  knew  as  well  as  he  that  the 
Phelps  appointment  would  be  most  unwelcome  to  those 
people,  but  the  White  House  seemed  oblivious  to  that 
important  political  fact.  It  remained  for  him  to  sound 
the  warning.  When  he  called  at  the  White  House  on 
this  errand,  the  President  was  engaged  and  Colonel  La- 
mont  was  out,  whereupon  he  sat  down  at  the  latter's 
desk  and  wrote  this  note :  — 

DEAR  COLONEL  LAMONT:  The  appointment  of  E.  J. 
Phelps  as  chief  justice  will  play  the  dickens  with  us. 

Yours, 

NED  MOSELEY. 

That  outspoken  statement  was  like  a  gust  of  fresh  air 
in  the  White  House.  Colonel  Lament  showed  the  note 
to  the  President,  and  they  summoned  Congressman 
Patrick  A.  Collins,  lately  president  of  the  Irish  Land 


38  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

League  of  America.  Mr.  Collins  told  the  President  that 
he  did  not  wish  to  be  placed  in  the  position  of  assuming 
to  be  the  spokesman  of  the  Irish  race  on  such  a  subject, 
and  suggested  that  he  call  in  other  congressmen  of  Irish 
birth  or  extraction.  Accordingly  some  thirty  of  them  were 
hastily  assembled,  with  the  result  that  Mr.  Moseley's 
impulsive  remonstrance  was  vigorously  indorsed,  and  the 
press  received  a  brief  statement  from  the  White  House 
somewhat  in  this  form :  "  Those  in  a  position  to  know  the 
facts  are  only  amused  by  the  assumption  that  the  ap- 
pointment of  Edward  J.  Phelps  to  the  Chief -Justiceship 
has  been  decided  on.  Mr.  Phelps  is  not  a  candidate,  and 
his  name  is  not  under  consideration. "  Mr.  Phelps  re- 
turned to  his  post  in  London,  and  eventually  Melville  W. 
Fuller  was  appointed  Chief  Justice. 

When  Mr.  Cleveland  was  defeated,  no  one  was  more 
grievously  disappointed  than  Mr.  Moseley.  He  was 
much  heartened  by  this  prophetic  letter  from  O'Reilly, 
and  he  took  pleasure  in  sending  it  to  Mr.  Cleveland  after 
four  years,  when  the  prophecy  had  been  verified  by 
events :  — 

The  Pilot. 

BOSTON,  Nov.  26,  1888. 
DEAR  NED  : 

Forgive  me  —  I  have  been  out  of  Boston  for  a  week, 
lecturing  in  Cincinnati;  before  that  for  over  a  week, 
buried  in  a  poem  for  the  negro  monument.  .  .  . 

The  campaign  of  1892  has  already  begun,  and  the  Presi- 
dent will  sweep  the  country,  as  sure  as  he  lives,  on  the 
very  issues  which  have  beaten  us  this  time.  We  tried 
to  reap  the  crop  before  it  was  ripe ;  that  is  all.  It  was  a 
good  crop,  and  it  will  grow  again. 

Harrison  is  essentially  an  incapable  man  —  at  least  for 


THE  NEW  SECRETARY  39 

a  great  place.  He  might  do  for  the  Senate,  where  in- 
dividual judgment  was  not  called  for,  as  Bayard  did  for 
it.  But  when  he  comes  to  a  place  where  his  every  word 
and  act,  or  silence  and  inaction,  are  under  the  blaze  and 
the  microscope,  he  will  fall  short  every  time.  As  sure  as 
the  sun  is  over  him,  a  small  nature  cannot  act  largely 
under  supreme  conditions;  and  as  President  he  cannot 
shuffle  in  doing,  or  evade  consequences.  Every  mistake 
of  Mr.  Cleveland  has  been  due  to  Bayard  or  other  minis- 
ters ;  every  mistake  of  Harrison's  will  be  his  own.  Gov- 
ernor Hill  cannot  last  even  two  out  of  the  four  years. 
He  lacks  moral  fiber;  and  by  the  new  states  to  be 
made  next  year,  New  York  will  not  be  as  much  the  Key 
State  in  '92  that  it  has  hitherto  been. 

Harrison's  first  wet  blanket,  on  the  enthusiasts  will  be 
the  throwing  over  of  Blaine.  His  selection  of  a  secretary, 
also,  is  simply  fatuous.  Depend  on  it,  he  will  go  from 
blunder  to  blunder,  for  pettiness  is  a  blunder  in  a  Presi- 
dent. 

Cleveland  will  grow  stronger  every  year.  His  defeat 
is  unnatural;  every  intelligent  Republican  secretly  ad- 
mits that  it  was  accidental.  Profoundly,  I  believe,  dear 
Ned,  that  we  were  defeated  by  Bayard,  Phelps,  and  Endi- 
cott.  The  only  wonder  in  my  mind  is  that  100,000 
instead  of  10,000  New  York  Irishmen  were  not  seduced 
in  their  disappointment  and  indignation.  Bayard  de- 
serves the  obscurity  into  which  he  goes.  An  American 
minister  who  could  insult  twenty  million  Irish  Americans, 
without  cause,  and  injure  their  interests  by  obstructing 
Home  Rule  for  Ireland,  as  Phelps  has  done,  deserves  the 
contempt  of  all  men.  The  fool  has  helped  no  one  but 
Harrison,  and  he  has  hurt  every  one  else. 

I  hope  the  President  will  withdraw  the  treaty  of  ex- 
tradition, and  appeal  to  the  manliness  and  morality  of 
Canada  to  give  up  our  refugee  swindlers  without  bargain- 
ing for  the  giving  up  of  refugee  politicians,  which  is  wholly 
a  British  and  not  at  all  a  Canadian  interest.  And  I  also 
hope  that  the  President  will  reassert  his  common-sense 
tariff  reform  principles,  and  declare  that  the  intelligence 
of  the  country  will  within  two  years  compel  the  change, 
which  he  proposed  and  our  party  formulated. 


40  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

And  now,  dear  Ned,  let  me  say  how  sorry  I  am  to  think 
that  your  faithful  and  splendid  work  is  to  end  in  getting 
beheaded.  Don't  fret  —  we  shall  know  a  lot  more  in  '92. 
You  can  get  along  without  trouble;  we  shall  be  busy 
from  the  very  beginning. 

More  time  for  a  good  canoe  trip  next  year. 
Good-by,  dear  old  man. 

Affectionately  yours, 
JOHN  BOYLE  O'REILLY. 


CHAPTER  VII 
UNDER  FIVE  PRESIDENTS 

WITH  the  inauguration  of  Harrison,  in  1889,  the  Re- 
publicans came  back  to  claim  their  own.  There  was  a 
clean  sweep  of  all  places  outside  the  classified  civil  service. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  a  bipartisan 
body  under  the  law  creating  it,  and  Mr.  Moseley  felt 
that  properly  the  Secretary  might  be  exempted  from  the 
general  rule  by  which  the  victors  took  the  spoils.  He 
was  not  appointed  for  a  limited  term,  but  to  serve  at  the 
pleasure  of  the  Commission.  He  therefore  prepared  to 
defend  his  office.  The  term  of  one  of  the  three  Dem- 
ocratic Commissioners  expired  in  1891,  and  a  Republican, 
Martin  A.  Knapp  of  New  York,  took  his  place,  thus  giving 
the  Republicans  a  majority  on  the  Commission. 

A  Republican  candidate  for  the  Secretaryship  opened 
an  aggressive  campaign  against  its  Democratic  incum- 
bent, but  Mr.  Moseley  showed  himself  a  better  cam- 
paigner. All  the  old  Commissioners  were  cordially  in 
favor  of  his  retention,  but  the  Republicans  among  them 
might  have  found  it  hard  to  resist  a  partisan  pressure 
for  his  place.  Mr.  Moseley,  however,  had  known  no 
party  in  the  conduct  of  his  office,  had  made  many  in- 
fluential friends  among  the  Republicans,  and  was  able 
to  bring  to  bear  more  powerful  Republican  support  than 
his  Republican  opponent. 

41 


42  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

The  Commission  was  deluged  with  strong  indorsements 
of  him,  Senators  Hoar  and  Dawes  of  Massachusetts, 
Senators  Blair  and  Chandler  of  New  Hampshire,  Senator 
Cullom  of  Illinois,  the  father  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Law,  and  Gen.  Russell  A.  Alger  of  Michigan  being  notable 
among  those  who  actively  joined  in  his  support.  Means 
were  found  of  pulling  Senator  Quay  of  Pennsylvania, 
the  chairman  of  the  Republican  national  committee, 
away  from  the  opposition  to  him. 

Senator  Chandler  wrote:  "In  my  belief  Mr.  Moseley 
has  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  leading  men  in 
New  England  without  regard  to  party  politics."  William 
W.  Crapo,  a  distinguished  ex-congressman  from  Massa- 
chusetts, in  writing  to  Colonel  Morrison  said  :  "I  regard 
him  as  eminently  qualified  for  the  place.  You  know  my 
politics.  I  am  as  ardent  a  Republican  as  when  we 
journeyed  together  to  Louisiana  in  1876  to  discover  who 
had  been  elected  President.  Mr.  Moseley  is  a  Demo- 
crat. If  he  is  to  be  displaced  simply  to  put  a  Republi- 
can into  the  position,  I  shall  regard  it  as  a  grave  mis- 
take. Your  board  ought  not  to  be  administered  as  a 
party  organization,  and  the  public  will  have  confidence 
in  it  only  so  far  as  it  believes  it  to  be  free  from  party 
influence." 

Senator  Dawes  said,  in  his  indorsement :  "I  have  known 
your  Secretary,  Mr.  Edward  A.  Moseley,  for  many  years, 
and  although  differing  from  him  in  politics,  I  have  not 
failed  to  recognize  and  appreciate  his  ability  and  fidelity 
in  his  office.  I  should  regret  exceedingly  to  see  him  dis- 
placed, and  I  cannot  conceive  of  any  exigency  of  the 


UNDER  FIVE  PRESIDENTS  43 

public  service  that  would  require  it."  The  foremost 
Republican  of  the  day,  James  G.  Elaine,  wrote  to  Com- 
missioner Veazey,  "I  hope  you  will  not  consider  me 
meddling  if  I  express  my  warm  wishes  for  the  retention 
of  Mr.  Moseley." 

The  officers  of  the  brotherhoods  of  railway  employees 
joined  the  representatives  of  the  railways  themselves  in 
supporting  a  secretary  who  had  shown  himself  fair  to  all. 
Mr.  L.  T.  Michener,  a  close  friend  of  President  Harri- 
son, writing  as  "  counsel  for  a  number  of  railroad  com- 
panies," said,  "I  have  never  heard  from  railway  officials 
or  from  counsel  anything  but  kind  words  for  Mr. 
Moseley,  for  they  all  appreciate  his  obliging  disposition 
and  realize  that  he  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the 
law  and  practice  before  the  Commission."  Mr.  George 
G.  Greene,  general  counsel  of  the  Lake  Shore  and  Michigan 
Southern  Railway,  addressed  Chauncey  M.  Depew,  the 
president,  earnestly  suggesting  that  he  intercede  for  Mr. 
Moseley,  saying,  "I  have  had  opportunity  and  occasion 
to  know  something  of  his  methods  and  administration 
of  affairs  in  his  office,  and  I  cannot  commend  him  too 
highly."  Messrs.  Britton  and  Gray  wrote  as  legal 
representatives  of  "some  10,000  miles  of  railroad"  :  — 

Mr.  Moseley  has,  in  our  frequent  contact  with  him, 
given  demonstration  of  his  complete  absorption  in  the 
work  of  the  Commission  and  the  duties  of  his  office  con- 
nected therewith .  Whenever  we  have  met  him  accidentally 
outside,  the  same  absorption  in  his  work  and  duties  was 
manifested  by  his  constant  discussion  of  the  interstate 
commerce  business  in  some  phase  or  other.  In  litigation 
brought  by  the  Commission  to  enforce  its  orders,  we 
seriously  doubt  whether  any  counsel  acting  for  the  United 


44  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

States  or  the  Commission  could  exhibit  greater  enthusiasm 
or  a  greater  degree  of  industry  in  preparing  the  case  on 
the  Commission's  behalf,  and  in  running  down  all  sources 
of  information  and  proof.  We  have  never  regarded  the 
office  as  a  political  one,  and  are  honest  in  the  conviction 
that  certainly  Mr.  Moseley  has  never  given  it  any  such 
turn.  .  .  .  His  readiness  to  answer  all  inquiries,  to 
furnish  all  information  possible  or  proper,  and  to  give  all 
parties  the  entire  facilities  within  his  reach  for  their 
benefit,  coupled  with  his  zeal  and  interest  in  sustaining 
the  Commission  and  forwarding  its  important  work, 
lead  us  to  believe  that  no  one  else  can  be  found  who  can 
better  fill  the  office,  nor  do  we  believe  that  any  one  can 
be  found  to  measure  up  to  Mr.  Moseley 's  present  experi- 
ence and  capacity  to  fill  his  important  office. 

The  most  significant  among  the  many  letters  on  the 
subject,  because  of  the  acquaintance  of  the  writer  with 
Mr.  Moseley's  work,  was  the  following  from  Mr.  George 
G.  Crocker  of  the  state  railroad  commission  of  Massa- 
chusetts :  — 

BOSTON,  November  19,  1891. 
HON.  GEORGE  F.  HOAR. 

MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

You  ask  me  what  is  my  opinion  of  Mr.  Edward  A. 
Moseley,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, and  of  the  value  of  his  services.  I  take  pleasure 
in  replying  that,  as  railroad  commissioner,  I  have  on 
several  occasions  called  upon  Mr.  Moseley  for  information 
in  regard  to  the  work  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission and  other  matters  bearing  upon  the  duties  of  the 
board.  I  have  always  found  him  not  only  willing,  but 
prompt,  in  responding  to  any  request  for  information,  and 
I  have  further  found  that  he  has  a  wide  and  valuable 
knowledge  of  railroad  men  and  railroad  affairs.  I  regard 
his  experience  in  the  position  as  of  great  value  to  the 
public,  and  should  certainly  feel  that  the  usefulness  of 
the  work  of  the  Commission  to  the  public  would  be  im- 


UNDER  FIVE  PRESIDENTS  45 

paired  if  by  substituting  another  man  his  experience 
should  be  sacrificed. 

Especially  of  late  have  I  had  occasion  to  appreciate 
his  ability  and  the  personal  interest  which  he  takes  in 
the  duties  of  his  office.  At  the  last  convention  of  the 
railroad  commissioners,  held  at  the  rooms  of  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  in  Washington,  I  was  ap- 
pointed by  Judge  Cooley  as  the  chairman  of  a  committee 
of  five  commissioners  from  different  parts  of  the  country 
to  urge  upon  Congress  the  adoption  on  freight  cars  of 
uniform  automatic  couplers  and  certain  other  safety 
appliances. 

Mr.  Moseley  consented  to  act  as  secretary  of  the  com- 
mittee, and  as  such  he  has  devoted  a  large  amount  of  time 
and  thought,  ability  and  experience,  towards  securing 
for  the  committee  returns  from  the  railroad  and  trans- 
portation companies  of  the  country.  These  returns 
have  further  been  classified  by  him  and  statistics  compiled, 
and  the  report  made  by  him  at  a  meeting  of  the  committee 
held  in  New  York  proved  to  be  most  instructive,,  and 
specially  impressed  the  members  of  the  committee  with 
surprise  that  he  was  both  able  and  willing  voluntarily  to 
work  in  such  an  indefatigable  spirit. 

I  should  certainly  deplore  any  action  looking  towards 
supplanting  him,  and  believe  that  such  action  would 
neither  be  in  the  interest  of  efficiency  of  service  nor  con- 
sistent with  the  principles  which  must  be  adhered  to  if 
high  standards  in  our  public  service  are  to  be  maintained. 

Most  truly  yours, 

GEORGE  G.  CROCKER. 

Mr.  Crocker  gave  not  only  the  chief  reason  for  retain- 
ing the  Secretary,  but  Mr.  Moseley's  own  real  reason  for 
wishing  to  be  retained,  and  that  was  the  opportunity 
for  service  which  the  movement  for  safety  car  appliances 
had  opened  to  him.  The  secretaryship  as  a  job  was  not 
worth  fighting  for.  It  was  a  laborious  post,  the  honor 
and  emolument  of  which  were  alike  small. 


46  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

The  effort  to  displace  him  served  to  call  out  this  ex- 
pression from  the  chairman  of  the  Commission  in  a 
letter  to  the  officers  of  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive 
Engineers :  — 

ANN  ARBOR,  November  19,  1891. 
MESSRS.  P.  M.  ARTHUR,  G.  C.  E., 
AND  T.  S.  INGRAHAM,  F.  G.  E. 

Replying  to  yours  of  the  17th  instant,  I  beg  to  assure 
you  that  I  am  not  in  sympathy  with  any  proposal  to 
remove  Mr.  Moseley,  the  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission.  I  know  of  no  reason  which  could 
justify  the  removal.  He  is  a  faithful,  diligent,  and  cour- 
teous officer,  fully  acquainted  with  the  duties  of  the  posi- 
tion, and  ambitious  to  perform  them  to  the  satisfaction 
of  the  public  and  of  all  concerned.  I  think  his  removal 
would  be  a  great  wrong  to  the  public  service. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

T.  M.  COOLEY. 

Finally,  Mr.  Moseley  received  this  conclusive  assurance 
from  Mr.  Joseph  H.  Manley,  the  leader  of  Republican 
politics  in  Maine,  "  Don't  worry ;  you  are  all  right."  The 
Secretary  not  only  held  his  place,  but  removed  it  for- 
ever from  the  scramble  for  partisan  spoils.  He  was  not 
called  upon  again  to  lift  a  finger  to  retain  it,  although  at 
one  time  in  the  course  of  the  Harrison  administration  it 
was  said  that  the  only  other  Cleveland  appointee  left  in 
a  prominent  post  at  Washington  was  the  register  of  the 
treasury,  General  Rosecrans. 

All  but  one  of  the  original  Commissioners  retired 
within  five  years  of  the  organization  of  the  Commission, 
and  with  the  retirement  of  Colonel  Morrison  in  1897, 
the  last  member  of  the  first  Commission  was  gone.  The 
Secretary  survived  all  changes  among  the  Commissioners 


UNDER  FIVE  PRESIDENTS  47 

and  all  changes  of  administrations.  First  and  last  he 
served  with  nearly  a  score  of  Commissioners  and  under 
five  Presidents  —  Cleveland,  Harrison,  McKinley,  Roose- 
velt and  Taft.  Parties  and  Presidents  came  and  went, 
but  he,  almost  if  not  quite  alone  among  the  more  con- 
spicuous officials  at  Washington,  stayed  on  undisturbed 
in  his  unique  place,  where  it  may  be  said  he  created  a 
part  for  himself. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
A  CLEVELAND  INCIDENT 

MR.  MOSELEY'S  firm  hold  on  the  good  will  of  the 
Commission,  when  a  majority  of  its  members  were  not 
of  the  party  with  which  he  acted  before  his  appointment, 
was  put  to  the  test  by  a  situation  that  Grover  Cleveland 
unwittingly  created  in  the  campaign  of  1892. 

Mr.  Cleveland  received  a  letter  from  a  man  styling 
himself  the  editor  of  a  newspaper  called  the  Irish  Nation- 
alist, and  representing  himself  to  be  a  Democrat  who 
wished  to  clear  the  party  candidate  for  President  from 
the  charge  that  in  his  former  administration  a  treaty 
had  been  negotiated  with  Great  Britain  permitting  the 
extradition  of  political  refugees.  The  subject  being  one 
with  which  Mr.  Moseley  had  dealt  in  the  campaign  of 
1888,  Mr.  Cleveland  referred  the  inquiry  to  him  in  the 
following  letter :  — 

(PERSONAL) 

GRAY  GABLES,  BUZZARDS  BAY,  MASS. 

August  9,  1892. 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  ESQ. 
MY  DEAR  SIR  : 

The  inclosed  letter  from  John  F.  Kearney  was  received 
a  day  or  two  ago.  You  will  see  that  inquiries  are  made 
therein  in  relation  to  a  subject  with  which,  if  I  am  not 
mistaken,  you  are  quite  familiar.  I  refer  to  the  British 

48 


A   CLEVELAND   INCIDENT  49 

extradition  treaty,  which  was  presented  to  the  Senate 
during  my  administration  as  President.  I  send  this 
letter  to  you  for  the  reason  that  I  believe  you  are  better 
able  to  answer  it  than  I  am;  and  if  you  see  fit  to  write 
Mr.  Kearney  the  truth  in  relation  to  this  matter,  as  you 
understand  it,  I  shall  be  glad.  I  hope  that  you  may  be 
able  to  do  this  on  your  own  account  entirely,  basing  your 
reply  on  information  which  you  yourself  obtained,  and 
merely  mentioning  the  fact  that  I  have  referred  the  letter 
to  you  on  account  of  your  great  familiarity  with  the 
subject. 

Very  truly  yours, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 

Mr.  Cleveland,  in  his  confidence  in  Mr.  Moseley's 
friendship  for  him  and  ability  to  answer  the  inquiry, 
imposed  a  delicate  duty  on  a  man  holding  office  under  the 
opposing  candidate  for  President.  Mr.  Moseley  wrote 
to  Kearney,  saying  that  the  treaty  as  sent  to  the  Senate 
by  President  Cleveland  contained  no  such  provision.  On 
further  inquiry  about  Kearney,  he  became  convinced  that 
the  man  was  trying  to  turn  a  political  trick.  He  warned 
Mr.  Cleveland  against  him  and  received  the  following 
reply :  — 

(PERSONAL) 

GRAY  GABLES,  BUZZARDS  BAY,  MASS. 

October  8,  1892. 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  ESQ. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: 

I  have  received  your  letter  of  the  1st  instant  accom- 
panied by  a  statement  which  you  prepared  in  relation  to 
the  Phelps-Rosebery  treaty.  I  thank  you  [most  sin- 
cerely for  the  labor  which  you  have  expended  in  this 
matter  and  for  the  very  satisfactory  presentation  which 
you  make  of  the  question.  I  also  desire  to  express  my 
obligation  to  you  for  having  made  inquiry  concerning  the 


50  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

gentleman  who  asked  of  me  the  information.  Of  course, 
I  could  judge  nothing  of  his  character  and  purposes  ex- 
cept as  they  were  made  apparent  by  his  letter  to  me. 

The  information  you  receive  concerning  him,  if  entirely 
reliable,  and  if  he  continues  in  the  same  condition  as 
described  by  your  correspondent,  properly  caused  you  to 
hesitate  before  putting  the  document  which  you  have 
prepared  in  his  hands.  My  own  idea  is  that  you  could 
not  have  done  a  better  thing  than  to  submit  it  to  the 
judgment  of  Mr.  Quincy,  for  I  suppose  its  transmission 
to  him  will  perhaps  put  it  in  the  way  of  being  passed  upon 
by  the  members  of  the  national  committee  as  well  as  by 
himself. 

Assuring  you  of  my  appreciation  of  the  efforts  you  have 
made  to  comply  with  my  request  in  this  matter,  I  am, 

Yours  very  truly, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


Another  man  next  took  up  the  subject  and  came 
to  Washington  to  see  Mr.  Moseley.  He  represented 
himself  as  having  come  directly  from  Mr.  Cleveland, 
whose  visiting  card  he  presented  as  evidence  of  good 
faith.  After  discussing  the  treaty  with  this  new  in- 
quirer, Mr.  Moseley  became  suspicious  of  his  caller's 
sincerity,  and  the  man  admitted  that  he  was  working  the 
thing  up  for  the  Republican  campaign. 

That  admission  of  duplicity  naturally  aroused  Mr. 
Moseley's  indignation,  if  not  belligerence,  and  the  man 
caused  him  to  be  arrested  in  the  middle  of  the  night  on 
the  charge  of  having  threatened  his  life,  a  charge  which 
was  vigorously  denied.  The  arrest  was  made  at  an  hour 
when  it  was  difficult  for  Mr.  Moseley  to  call  friends  to 
his  aid,  and  he  was  therefore  detained  at  the  station 
until  morning.  It  was  an  unpleasant  situation,  apart 


A  CLEVELAND  INCIDENT  51 

from  the  indignity  put  upon  him,  to  be  involved  in  a 
campaign  from  which  he  had  tried  to  keep  free  because 
of  his  position  under  a  Republican  administration. 
There  is  another  letter  from  Mr.  Cleveland,  expressive 
of  his  sympathy  in  the  annoyance  he  had  innocently 
brought  upon  him:  — 

12  WEST  51sT  STREET,  NEW  YORK  CITY, 

October  21,  1892. 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  ESQ.,  WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: 

I  thank  you  for  your  letter  of  October  18,  and  the  one 
you  inclose  from  your  friend  at  Newburyport,  Massachu- 
setts. I  have  read  the  letter  with  very  great  satisfaction 
and  return  it  to  you,  thinking  perhaps  that  you  would 
like  to  preserve  it. 

This  corroborates  other  evidence  which  has  come  to 
hand  that  our  veteran  soldiers  cannot  be  played  upon  to 
the  same  extent  as  heretofore  by  demagogic  practices. 

Mr.-  -to  whom  you  refer  in  your  letter,  came  to 
me  and  asked  me  in  regard  to  the  treaty,  apparently  in 
good  faith.  I  answered  him  as  well  as  my  recollection 
permitted  me  to,  and  finally  said  to  him  that  it  was  a 
matter  entirely  within  your  knowledge  and  that  your 
memory  upon  the  subject  would  probably  be  better  than 
mine.  The  questions  which  followed  that  in  relation  to 
the  treaty,  satisfied  me  in  a  very  few  minutes  that  his 
interview  was  not  sought  in  good  faith,  and  I  peremptorily 
declined  to  have  any  further  conversation  with  him. 
Since  that  time  I  have  received  from  him  sundry  and 
divers  letters,  some  of  a  very  peremptory,  not  to  say 
threatening  kind,  to  which  I  have  paid  no  attention ;  but 
I  did  not  understand  until  the  receipt  of  your  letter  the 
meaning  of  the  reference  he  made  to  your  threatening 
his  life. 

My  impression  is  that  your  treatment  of  him,  as  de- 
scribed in  your  letter,  was  exactly  what  he  deserved. 

Very  truly  yours, 

GROVER  CLEVELAND. 


52  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Mr.  Moseley  was  furious  with  rage  over  his  experience, 
but  the  election  soon  came  and  the  incident  was  closed 
with  the  campaign.  After  the  election,  he  wrote  Mr. 
Cleveland  this  letter:  — 

November  14,  1892. 

HON.  GROVER  CLEVELAND, 
12  West  51st  Street, 
New  York  City. 

DEAR  MR.  PRESIDENT: 

I  knew  you  would  be  elected — and  of  course  you  know 
I  hoped  so  as  never  before — when  I  had  to  face  the  humili- 
ation that  they  put  upon  me  on  account  of  that  cracked- 
brain  scalawag, , —  but  I  was  not  prepared  for  such 

a  deluge.  The  atmosphere  in  Washington  is  changed 
already  —  there  is  life  and  cheer  in  it,  and  I  tell  them  they 
need  not  think  that  the  triumphant  Democracy  with  its 
access  to  power  is  going  to  abuse  it.  They  did  raise  the 
devil  with  me  that  night,  fairly  pulling  me  out  of  a  sick 
bed  in  my  nightshirt  and  locking  me  up  in  a  dirty  cell. 

You  will  be  sorry  to  learn  of  my  dear  mother's  illness. 
That  was  the  only  news  that  saddened  me  at  all  in  the 
midst  of  the  glorious  election  reports.  She  is  over  eighty, 
and  I  grieve  about  it.  I  write  you  about  her  because  I 
recall,  when  you  told  me  in  the  White  House  one  St. 
Patrick's  Day,  that  the  patron  saint  had  the  advantage  of 
you  by  a  day,  your  tenderness  as  you  told  me  of  your 
mother  and  what  a  sure  guide  she  had  always  been 
and  how  you  always  missed  her  steadfast  and  supporting 
friendship.  That  came  home  to  me  the  more  because  my 
mother  rejoiced  at  your  victory  almost  as  much  as  your 
own  would  have  done. 

I  inclose  an  old  letter  of  our  dear  Boyle  O'Reilly's, 
which  you  have  never  seen.  Do  read  it  through  and  see 
if  it  is  not  prophetic. 

With  great  regard  and  respect, 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


A  CLEVELAND  INCIDENT  53 

Mr.  Moseley's  relations  with  Mr.  Cleveland  in  the 
latter 's  second  administration  were  cordial  and  influen- 
tial. When  a  vacancy  occurred  in  the  Commission,  the 
President  received  many  requests  for  Mr.  Moseley's 
appointment  as  a  Commissioner  from  the  leaders  of  the 
railroad  brotherhoods,  Chief  Arthur  of  the  locomotive  en- 
gineers expressing  the  general  feeling  of  the  unions  when 
he  said  in  his  letter,  under  date  of  March  19,  1894 :  — 

We  would  urge,  in  view  of  the  many  questions  that  are 
daily  arising  which  so  directly  concern  railroad  employees, 
his  appointment,  not  because  we  have  any  reason  to  think 
the  class  of  men  referred  to  would  receive  any  favors  at 
his  hands  that  justice  would  not  dictate,  but  because  this 
great  army  of  men  engaged  in  the  most  hazardous  em- 
ployment that  the  country  has,  have  no  one  in  the  Com- 
mission that  has  any  practical  knowledge  of  them  or  their 
duties,  and  certainly  the  welfare  of  these  men  and  of  our 
common  country  of  which  they  are  no  small  part,  entitles 
them  to  an  unbiased  representative,  whom  they  respect 
and  in  whose  judgment,  impartially  given,  they  can  have 
confidence. 

Mr.  Cleveland,  however,  felt  now  as  he  felt  when  Mr. 
Moseley's  name  was  first  presented  in  1887,  that  he 
should  not  choose  a  Democratic  member  from  Republi- 
can New  England.  With  that  decision,  Mr.  Moseley 
relinquished  his  ambition  for  a  seat  on  the  Commission, 
and  never  again  turned  his  hand  over  for  promotion  or 
preferment  of  any  kind.  This  was  fortunate  for  him  and 
his  work,  for  as  a  Commissioner  his  tenure  might  have 
been  less  permanent,  and  it  is  extremely  doubtful,  had  he 
been  one  among  the  several  members  of  the  Commission, 
if  he  could  have  done  as  much  as  he  succeeded  in  doing 
in  the  fifteen  crowded  years  that  followed. 


CHAPTER  IX 
TAKING  UP  HIS  LIFE  WORK 

BEHIND  every  law  there  is  a  man.  Edward  A.  Moseley 
was  the  man  behind  the  act  of  Congress  "For  the  Protec- 
tion of  Travelers  and  Employees  on  Interstate  Railroads." 
The  law  had  other  friends  as  loyal  as  he  and  whose  fair 
share  of  the  credit  no  one  will  deny.  He  organized  and 
conducted  the  remarkable  campaign  that  placed  it  on 
the  statute  books ;  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
looked  chiefly  to  him  to  set  it  in  operation ;  under  the 
orders  of  the  Commission,  he  took  charge  of  its  enforce- 
ment; for  twenty  years  he  led  in  the  running  fight  for 
its  life  in  the  courts,  and  at  last  really  gave  his  own 
life  in  defense  of  the  cause. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Act  of  1887,  which  created 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  made  no  provision 
for  the  regulation  of  the  conditions  of  travel  and  labor 
on  the  railways.  It  was  strictly  a  commerce  law,  having 
to  do  only  with  questions  of  dollars  and  cents.  Its  sole 
ami  was  to  protect  property,  and  there  was  not  a  clause 
in  it  for  the  protection  of  men.  It  was  wholly  an  economic 
statute,  and  in  no  sense  a  humane  measure.  The  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  was  constituted  and  organ- 
ized to  look  after  corn  and  oats  and  live  stock,  but  not 
human  beings. 

The  framers  of  the  law  are  not  to  be  censured  for  this 

54 


TAKING  UP  HIS  LIFE  WORK  55 

omission.  The  idea  of  the  Federal  government  as  a  con- 
structive force  in  the  development  of  the  nation  had  yet 
hardly  dawned  on  the  public  mind.  Its  sphere  of  duty 
was  still  supposed  to  be  chiefly  confined  to  repelling  in- 
vasion, suppressing  rebellion,  and  providing  judicial  tribu- 
nals for  umpiring  disputes  between  citizens  of  different 
states. 

Aside  from  scattering  garden  seed  over  the  land  and  at- 
tempting to  give  an  incidental  protection  to  manufactures 
in  levying  customs  duties,  the  national  government  was 
not  expected  to  do  anything  to  help  the  American  people. 
The  dogma  of  laissez  faire  was  unchallenged,  and  it  was 
a  cardinal  principle  of  statesmanship  to  leave  the  people 
to  look  out  for  themselves,  or,  if  they  could  not  do  it,  to 
let  the  states  guard  their  interests.  The  government  of 
the  United  States  had  scarcely  enlarged  the  field  of  its 
activities  in  the  hundred  years  of  its  existence.  To  adopt 
the  policy  of  interfering  between  the  railways  and  the 
shippers,  therefore,  stretched  the  exercise  of  Federal 
power  quite  as  far  as  any  one  seriously  thought  of  ex- 
panding it  in  1887,  and  it  is  not  to  be  wondered  at  that 
no  suggestion  was  made  to  interfere  between  the  railways 
and  its  own  employees. 

There  was,  however,  one  form  of  Federal  service  which 
held  a  peculiar  interest  for  Mr.  Moseley.  The  nation 
did  provide  means  of  saving  life  at  sea  and  on  the  lakes. 
It  had  erected  lighthouses  and  other  guides  for  the 
benefit  of  marine  commerce,  and  it  provided  a  life-saving 
patrol  on  the  coasts.  Mr.  Moseley  felt  a  natural  sym- 
pathy with  that  beneficent  work.  He  was  proud  of  his 


56  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

membership  in  the  Merrimac  Humane  Society  of  New- 
buryport,  of  which  his  father  was  president  for  a  long 
time,  and  which  his  grandfather  had  founded  for  the 
rescue  of  sailors  before  there  was  a  United  States  Life- 
saving  Service. 

From  boyhood  he  had  vainly  coveted  a  Massachusetts 
Humane  Society  medal,  and  he  used  to  confess  with  a 
smile  that  he  never  went  swimming  where  there  were 
others  in  the  water  that  he  did  not  keep  his  eye  open  for 
an  opportunity  to  win  the  medal.  He  could  make  up  a 
laughable  story  of  his  patient  waiting  and  watching  on  a 
crowded  beach  and  his  persistent  ill  luck  in  never  being 
about  when  a  bather  caught  a  cramp,  or  when  some 
novice  was  drawn  down  by  the  undertow. 

It  was  his  ambition  at  one  tune  to  be  superintendent 
of  the  United  States  Life-saving  service,  and,  the  year 
after  his  appointment  to  the  Secretaryship  of  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission,  he  requested  that  he  be 
considered  for  the  vacancy  whenever  a  change  should  be 
made  in  the  bureau.  Akin  to  this  humane  interest  was 
the  interest  he  had  developed  in  the  problem  of  ameliorat- 
ing the  condition  of  laboring  men,  and  he  expressed  an 
ambition  to  be  Commissioner  of  Labor,  when  that  office 
was  in  process  of  reorganization  in  1888. 

Neither  of  these  fields  for  congenial  service  opening  to 
him,  he  created  a  far  larger  field  for  himself.  He  had 
come  to  Washington  directly  from  his  seat  in  the  Massa- 
chusetts Legislature,  generally  the  most  advanced  legis- 
lative body  in  the  country,  notwithstanding  the  conser- 
vative repute  of  the  Old  Bay  State.  There  he  had  given 


TAKING  UP  HIS  LIFE  WORK  57 

much  earnest  attention  to  the  many  measures  pending 
for  the  regulation  of  labor.  As  a  member  of  the  joint 
committee  on  railroads,  he  had  considered  various  means 
of  reducing  the  perils  of  trainmen. 

Once  when  a  bill  requiring  a  certain  fixture  on  freight 
cars  was  under  consideration,  he  had  heard  a  railway 
official  denounce  it  as  an  outrage.  "Why!"  the  official 
exclaimed,  "every  time  a  fellow  grabbed  that  thing,  he 
would  give  the  car  such  a  wrench,  it  would  spring  a  leak 
and  ruin  the  contents."  That  emphasized  to  Mr.  Moseley 
the  conflict  between  the  point  of  view  of  humanity  and 
that  of  business.  The  objector  was  thinking  of  the  leaky 
car  and  the  bill  for  the  damaged  merchandise,  and  not  of 
the  human  being,  the  brakeman,  who  would  seize  the 
fixture  only  to  save  his  life.  He  saw  that  the  gulf  be- 
tween those  conflicting  points  of  view  was  so  wide  that 
the  law  alone  could  bridge  it. 

He  found  that  a  state  law  was  useless.  The  efforts  of 
the  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts  to  promote  the 
safety  of  railroad  employees  had  only  made  a  bad  matter 
worse.  State  laws  had  proved  themselves  entirely  in- 
effectual to  meet  the  case,  because  they  were  so  diverse 
and  inconsistent.  For  instance,  a  car  fitted  to-day  with 
the  coupler  prescribed  in  Massachusetts  might  next 
month,  in  the  movements  of  interstate  commerce,  find  its 
way  into  Texas,  Nebraska,  or  Colorado,  each  state  having 
a  different  coupler  in  conformity  with  its  own  laws,  but 
non-interlocking  with  the  couplers  of  other  states,  thus 
increasing  rather  than  diminishing  the  loss  of  life  and 
limb. 


58  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

Still  no  general  movement  was  started  looking  to  the 
Federal  power  for  relief.  The  Railroad  Commission  of 
Massachusetts  said  in  its  report  for  1886  :  — 

It  has  seemed  to  the  board  an  unsound  argument  that 
one  state  should  do  nothing  because  it  cannot  do  all.  The 
natural  tendency  of  such  an  argument  is  to  throw  upon 
Congress  the  duty  of  legislation  for  the  protection  of 
train  hands  who  are  engaged  in  interstate  commerce. 
For  many  reasons  it  seems  to  us  that  the  desired  end  should 
be  obtained  by  the  harmonious  action  of  the  state  govern- 
ment rather  than  by  the  intervention  of  Federal  authority. 

In  two  years  more  the  Massachusetts  Commission, 
through  Chairman  Crocker,  had  reached  the  conclusion, 
announced  in  its  report  for  1888,  that  "  Congress  should 
interfere  to  prevent  the  yearly  mutilation  of  employees. " 
Mr.  Moseley  at  the  same  time  was  doing  what  he  could 
in  Washington  to  bring  the  responsibility  for  the  situa- 
tion home  to  the  only  authority  really  competent  to  deal 
with  it.  Having  gained  the  confidence  of  Chairman 
Cooley,  he  introduced  the  subject  to  his  favorable  con- 
sideration and  to  the  sympathetic  attention  of  the  other 
Commissioners.  He  realized  as  well  as  they  that  the 
statute  under  which  they  were  working  gave  them  no 
authority  in  this  matter. 

The  Federal  government,  in  adopting  the  law,  had 
asserted  its  power  to  regulate  commerce  between  the 
states,  but  not  the  instrumentalities  of  that  commerce, 
the  cars  in  which  it  was  carried.  How  could  the  Com- 
mission take  note  of  anything  lying  outside  the  scope  of 
its  organic  law  ? 

Mr.  Moseley,  however,  joined  in  plans  for  a  national 


TAKING  UP  HIS  LIFE  WORK  59 

movement  in  support  of  his  position.  The  Massachu- 
setts Legislature  memorialized  Congress  for  legislation 
on  the  subject,  the  prayer  being  presented  to  the  Senate 
by  Senator  Hoar  on  March  31,  1888.  Mr.  Moseley's 
friend,  Mr.  Collins  of  Massachusetts,  introduced  in  the 
House  a  resolution,  directing  the  Commission  to  inves- 
tigate the  matter.  Without  waiting  for  Congress  to  act, 
the  Secretary  called  upon  the  railroads,  with  the  sanction 
of  the  Commission,  to  report  the  number  of  persons 
killed  and  injured  in  coupling  cars. 

When  the  State  Railroad  Commissioners  met  in  Wash- 
ington in  March,^1889,  to  consider  the  supervision  of  rail- 
roads in  general,  Chairman  Cooley  presided  over  their 
convention.  Mr.  George  G.  Crocker  of  the  Massachu- 
setts Commission  offered  a  resolution  urging  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  to  consider  what  could  be 
done  to  prevent  the  loss  of  life  and  limb  in  coupling  and 
uncoupling  freight  cars  used  in  interstate  commerce  and 
in  handling  the  brakes  of  such  cars. 

With  the  adoption  of  that  resolution,  the  states,  which 
might  have  been  jealous  of  Federal  interference,  were 
placed  on  record  as  in  sympathy  with  the  cause,  and 
afterward  Mr.  Crocker  was  appointed  chairman  and  Mr. 
Moseley  secretary  of  a  special  committee  on  safety  ap- 
pliances. This  Crocker  committee  proved  to  be  an  active 
influence  in  promoting  the  movement. 

The  first  mention  of  the  subject  in  the  annual  reports  of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  made  in  1889, 
but  the  Commissioners  confessed  that  they  were  not  pre- 
pared to  recommend  a  national  law  because  the  difficulties 


60  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

of  formulating  and  enforcing  such  a  statute  seemed  to 
them  great,  if  not  insurmountable.  The  Secretary,  how- 
ever, went  on  with  his  work  of  collating  the  casualty  re- 
ports from  the  railroads,  the  totals  of  which  constituted  a 
staggering  argument  for  action,  and  he  employed  every 
possible  means  of  driving  the  argument  home.  A  graphic 
portrayal  of  the  situation  was  made  by  him  in  a  public 
address,  delivered  before  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad 
Trainmen  in  Faneuil  Hall,  Boston,  in  the  course  of 
which  he  said  :  — 

There  is  something  appalling  in  the  statement  that  more 
hard-working  and  faithful  rail  way  employees  in  the  United 
States  went  down  in  sudden  death  last  year  than  the  en- 
tire number  of  Union  men  who  died  at  the  Battle  of  the 
Wilderness ;  nearly  as  many  as  those  who  died  the  bitter 
death  at  Spottsylvania ;  more  than  three  times  the  num- 
ber of  the  Union  dead  at  Lookout  Mountain,  Missionary 
Ridge  and  Orchard  Knob  combined,  and  that  more  of 
the  grand  army  of  railway  men  of  this  country  were  cut 
and  bruised  and  maimed  and  mangled  last  year  than  all 
the  Union  wounded  and  missing  on  the  bloody  field  of 
Gettysburg ;  nearly  equal  in  number  to  the  wounded  and 
missing  in  the  reign  of  death  and  devastation  at  Shiloh, 
first  and  second  Bull  Run  and  Antietam  combined ;  while 
there  traveled  under  the  care  and  guidance  of  this  clear- 
headed and  vigilant  army  of  railway  workers  560,958,211 
passengers  with  so  much  ease  and  safety  that  only  one 
in  every  1,491,910  was  killed  and  only  one  in  every  173,833 
was  injured  from  all  causes,  including  their  own  careless- 
ness. 

We  are  standing  upon  the  shore  of  the  Atlantic.  Look- 
ing to  the  east,  we  behold  a  broad  expanse  of  water.  Upon 
this  coast  —  within  sound  of  the  roar  of  the  surf  —  not 
a  storm  arises  but  a  prayer  goes  up  from  the  good  house- 
wife for  the  safety  of  the  poor  sailor  struggling  with  the 
elements.  Why  is  this  solicitude  so  fervently  expressed  ? 


TAKING  UP  HIS  LIFE  WORK  61 

From  time  immemorial  the  limitless  deep  has  been  asso- 
ciated with  peril  to  human  life,  and  the  most  anxious 
feelings  of  our  race  have  been  evoked  in  behalf  of  those 
"who  go  down  to  the  sea  in  ships."  For  centuries  every 
civilized  language  has,  in  prose  and  poetry,  extolled  the 
heroism  of  the  sailor,  and  sympathized  with  the  dangers 
and  sacrifices  of  the  toiler  who  earns  his  livelihood  upon 
the  unstable  elements.  The  sound  of  the  waves  and  the 
heavy  blasts  call  attention  to  the  fact  and  tend  to  per- 
petuate one  of  the  finest  traits  in  our  human  nature  —  a 
brotherly  interest  in  the  welfare  of  a  worthy  portion  of 
the  community. 

And  yet,  how  little  of  this  commendable  sympathy  is 
bestowed  on  the  equally  brave  and  far  more  exposed  toiler 
working  in  the  freight  yard  or  on  the  rail !  He,  too,  is 
traveling  a  deck.  To  be  swept  from  it  will  hurl  him  to 
eternity  in  a  far  more  sudden  and  agonizing  way  than  the 
poor  fellow  carried  by  a  wave  from  the  deck  of  a  vessel. 
The  latter,  in  many  instances,  has  a  chance  —  with  the  help 
of  a  resolute  heart  and  sinewy  arm  —  of  rescuing  himself 
from  a  watery  grave.  How  vast  the  difference  with  the 
victim  of  the  railway,  the  great  modern  agent  of  civiliza- 
tion, as  essential  to  human  intercourse  as  the  ship  has 
been  since  the  earliest  times ! 

Yet  dangers  to  the  trainmen  do  not  come  home  to  the 
good  people.  Their  attention  has  not  yet  been  suffi- 
ciently awakened  to  the  subject.  Let  them  think  of  the 
fated  fellow  who  slips  between  the  cars  and  whose  only 
possible  escape  is  by  a  desperate  grasp  at  their  icy  sides ; 
or  of  him  who,  swept  from  the  running  board  of  the  rapidly 
moving  car,  is  hurled  to  instant  and  certain  destruction. 

Dangers  beset  him  everywhere.  As  he  works  amid 
an  intricate  warp  of  iron  rails,  the  next  step  may  fasten 
his  heel  in  the  deadly  unblocked  frog,  holding  him  in  a 
vise,  suffering  an  agony  of  suspense,  while  the  wheel 
bears  down  upon  him  to  mangle  his  poor  body  and  crush 
his  life  out. 

Let  people  reflect  that  it  requires  fully  as  much  courage 
and  nerve  to  peer  out  into  the  darkness  and  catch  sight 
of  a  few  feet  of  gleaming  rails  in  front,  all  else  the  black- 
ness of  night,  as  it  does  to  stand  on  the  bridge  of  a  ship 


62  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

and  with  straining  eyes  endeavor  to  avoid  the  passing 
vessel,  the  derelict,  or  the  iceberg. 

Even  the  railroad  employees  themselves  had  to  be 
aroused  from  their  indifference  or  despair.  Mr.  Moseley 
did  not  find  it  an  easy  task  to  communicate  to  them  his 
enthusiasm  in  their  behalf  and  his  confidence  that  some- 
thing could  be  done  to  lessen  the  perils  amid  which  they 
labored  and  to  reduce  the  awful  rate  of  slaughter  on  the 
rail,  to  which  their  life  had  accustomed  them. 

They  had  no  legislative  agents  in  Washington  in  those 
days  when  Mr.  Moseley  began  his  work,  and  there  was 
not  a  line  in  the  federal  statutes  for  the  protection  of  the 
eight  hundred  thousand  railroad  workers.  Employed  in 
a  business  that  overlapped  state  lines,  the  state  could 
not  effectively  protect  them,  and  the  nation  had  neg- 
lected them.  They  toiled  in  what  was  legally  and  prac- 
tically no  man's  land.  The  new  champion  who  had 
taken  up  their  cause  at  Washington,  therefore,  had  first 
to  convert  their  leaders  and  convince  them  that  by  join- 
ing with  him  Congress  could  be  compelled  to  act  in  their 
behalf.  They  soon  became  infected,  however,  with  his 
zealous  spirit,  and  under  his  expert  guidance  they  made 
their  wishes  known  to  senators  and  representatives. 

While  the  Commission  gave  the  appalling  record  of  the 
casualties  in  its  report  in  1890,  that  conservative  body 
did  not  venture  a  comment  on  the  figures.  In  1891, 
while  it  still  refrained  from  urging  any  regulative  law,  it 
incorporated  in  its  report  an  extended  review  of  the  matter 
over  the  signature  of  Secretary  Moseley.  Finally  the 
question  found  a  place  in  the  President's  message,  when 


TAKING  UP  HIS  LIFE  WORK  63 

\ 

President  Harrison  declared  that  "  it  is  a  reproach  to  our 

civilization  that  any  class  of  American  workmen  should, 
in  the  pursuit  of  a  necessary  and  useful  vocation,  be 
subjected  to  a  peril  of  life  and  limb  as  great  as  that  of 
a  soldier  in  time  of  war."  Newspapers  and  magazines 
turned  the  subject  over  and  over,  and  gave  voice  to 
the  swelling  public  demand  for  remedial  legislation,  while 
Mr.  Moseley,  as  the  general  in  the  field,  directed  the 
movement  against  the  " deadly  link  and  pin,"  and  the 
hand  brake. 

The  former  required  a  man  to  step  between  the  cars  and 
take  his  life  in  his  hand  at  every  coupling,  while  the 
latter  required  the  brakemen  to  imperil  their  lives  on  the 
narrow  and  often  slippery  running  boards  in  the  darkness 
of  night,  and  in  gales  that  sometimes  swept  them  away ; 
to  leap  from  roof  to  roof  of  swaying  cars,  to  jump  from 
box  cars  to  flat  cars  and  twist  the  treacherous  brakes 
whenever  a  train  was  to  be  brought  to  a  stop. 

The  remedy  was  astonishingly  plain  —  equip  freight 
cars  with  automatic  couplers  and  air  brakes  the  same  as 
passenger  cars.  The  only  obstacle  was  the  expense  — 
but  that  was  a  large  one.  For  there  were  more  than 
1,200,000  freight  cars,  and  very  few  of  them  had  auto- 
matic couplers  and  air  brakes.  The  cry  went  up  that  it 
would  cost  the  railroads  $100,000,000  to  comply  with 
such  a  law.  The  $100,000,000  was  placed  in  the  scales 
against  the  totals,  which  Mr.  Moseley  was  collecting  and 
publishing,  of  the  yearly  sacrifice  of  thousands  of  killed 
and  wounded.  And  manhood  outweighed  money. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  FIRST  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT 

THE  campaign  for  the  Safety  Appliance  Act  was  a  long 
and  arduous  one.  Mr.  Moseley  supplied  the  committee 
reports  in  both  the  Senate  and  in  the  House,  the  material 
for  speeches  of  senators  and  representatives,  for  the 
annual  reports  of  the  Commission  and  for  the  messages  of 
President  Harrison,  who  thrice  commended  the  measure 
to  Congress.  He  marshaled  the  forces  of  railway  labor 
for  the  first  tune  in  Washington,  and  skillfully  pulled  the 
wires  leading  to  the  seats  of  influence  at  either  end  of 
the  Capitol.  He  brought  such  pressure  to  bear  on  both 
national  conventions  in  1892  as  to  cause  the  subject  to 
be  mentioned  in  the  platforms  of  the  Republican  and 
Democratic  parties.  He  steered  and  pushed  the  bill 
with  all  the  adroitness  and  efficiency  and  with  more  than 
the  ardor  of  an  experienced  lobbyist. 

Indeed,  his  arts  and  his  zeal  brought  suspicion  upon  him 
at  first.  He  was  seen  to  be  a  thoroughly  practical  pro- 
moter who  knew  the  ropes,  and  not  a  wild-eyed  zealot. 
Wherefore  there  were  those  who  suspected  he  must  be 
in  the  employ  of  some  selfish  interest,  perhaps  a  patented 
coupler  or  brake.  That  he  made  a  close  poll  of  Congress 
like  any  trained  lobbyist,  is  shown  by  a  letter  in  which 
he  told  how  the  Senate  did  the  bill  to  death  in  the  ses- 
sion of  1891-1892.  It  was  addressed  to  the  President's 

64 


THE  FIRST  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT          65 

secretary,  in  reply  to  an  inquiry  from  the  White  House 
at  a  time  when  General  Harrison  was  preparing  his  last 

annual  message :  — 

(CONFIDENTIAL) 

INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION,  WASHINGTON. 
November  15,  1892. 

HON.  E.  W.  HALFORD,  Private  Secretary  to  the  President, 

Executive  Mansion. 
DEAR  MR.  HALFORD  : 

I  desire  confidentially  to  state  to  you  that  I  heard  of 
no  opposition  in  the  House  of  Representatives  in  relation 
to  safety  appliance  legislation,  except  from  Mr.  O'Neill 
of  Pennsylvania,  who,  in  the  committee,  stated  that  he 
was  opposed  to  any  legislation  on  the  subject.  The  House 
bill  passed  unanimously  without  debate  or  dissent. 

In  the  Senate  committee  on  interstate  commerce  it  met 
with  considerable  opposition.  In  fact,  Senator  Hiscock 
declared  that  while  he  would  allow  the  bill  substituted  for 
the  House  bill  to  be  reported  if  a  promise  were  made  by  the 
chairman,  Senator  Cullom,  that  it  would  not  be  called 
up  last  session,  still  he  would  fight  the  bill  in  every  pos- 
sible way,  and  in  debate  if  necessary.  It  was  therefore 
agreed  that  it  should  not  be  called  up.  In  the  open  ses- 
sion of  the  committee  it  was  apparent  that  Senator  Wol- 
cott  was  opposed  to  this  legislation,  as  was  Senator  His- 
cock, and  Senator  Gorman  was  not  favorable. 

The  question  is  one  which  was  mentioned  in  both  party 
platforms,  but  honestly,  the  attention  which  it  has  re- 
ceived from  the  public,  is  very  largely  due  to  the  President's 
earnest  and  humane  interest  in  the  subject. 

I  fully  believe  that  by  means  of  circulars,  etc.,  every 
railroad  employee  in  the  United  States  understands  and 
appreciates  the  President's  active  and  generous  efforts 
looking  to  his  welfare,  and  it  has  been  my  pleasure,  as 
far  as  lay  in  my  power,  to  see  that  this  was  made  known. 
I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

P.S.  It  is  perhaps  proper  for  me  to  state  —  in  order 
to  reply  fully  to  your  inquiry  —  that  the  reports  in  both 


66  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

the  Senate  and  the  House,  as  well  as  the  article  in  the 
fifth  annual  report  of  the  Commission,  were  compiled  by 
me. 

When  the  final  test  came,  the  opposition  contrived  to 
capture  more  votes  than  Mr.  Moseley  had  conceded  to 
them.  They  were  not  enough,  however,  either  to  defeat 
the  bill  or  block  its  progress.  It  was  put  on  its  passage 
in  the  last  days  of  an  expiring  Congress  and  administra- 
tion, while  from  a  gallery  Mr.  Moseley  watched  and 
directed  the  fight,  and  it  won  in  a  garrison  finish.  In 
the  House  debate  on  February  21,  1893,  an  eloquent 
young  Nebraska  member  from  whom  the  country  was 
to  hear  in  a  wider  forum,  William  Jennings  Bryan,  ex- 
pressed the  determination  of  the  friends  of  the  bill  in 
these  words :  — 

I  for  one  am  willing  to  stay  here  till  this  session  ends, 
because  I  think  this  bill  should  be  passed.  I  believe  it  is 
dictated  by  humanity,  and  I  am  not  willing,  if  I  can  pre- 
vent it,  that  these  men  shall  be  killed  and  maimed  just 
because  some  of  the  railroads  insist  that  they  cannot 
afford  to  put  these  couplers  on  their  cars.  The  only  ob- 
jection that  I  have  heard  made,  the  only  real  one  in  that 
letter  of  Mr.  Haines  found  on  our  desks  this  morning,  is 
that  it  would  cost  $75  a  car,  or  $75,000,000. 

Mr.  Moseley  made  this  interesting  memorandum  of  the 
enactment  of  the  law :  — 

The  bill  passed  the  Senate  with  ten  votes  against  it 
by  the  greatest  opposition.  Of  the  ten  votes  against  it, 
eight  were  given  by  Democrats  and  two  by  Republicans  ; 
one  of  the  Republicans  being  Senator  Stewart  of  Nevada 
and  the  other  Senator  Sawyer  of  Wisconsin.  It  then  went 
to  the  House  and  passed  with  eighty-four  votes  against  it, 
seventy-eight  of  which  were  cast  by  Democrats  and  six 


THE  FIRST   SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT          67 

by  Republicans.  The  perfidy  of  certain  people  may  be 
well  known  when  the  very  persons  who  took  part  in  the 
adoption  of  the  platform  were  most  active  on  return  to 
Congress  in  their  attempt  to  prevent  this  legislation. 

It  has  always  been  charged  that  the  railroad  interests 
had  made  their  peace  with  Tammany  and  that  as  a  con- 
tribution to  the  campaign  had  been  made,  this  legislation 
should  not  be  enacted.  This  is  well  shown  when  it  is 
understood  that  every  representative  from  Tammany 
voted  against  the  enactment  of  this  humane  law,  with  one 
exception.  There  are  persons  who  saw  a  telegram,  which 
probably  could  be  produced  if  necessary,  from  Richard 
Croker  to  Amos  Cummings,  about  in  the  following 
words :  — 

"We  are  against  the  car  coupler  bill.  Throw  it  down 
and  tell  our  people  to  do  the  same. 

"RICHARD  CROKER." 

Full  well  they  obeyed  the  command  of  their  master, 
except  Cummings,  who  said  he  would  see  Richard  Croker 
in  hell  ten  thousand  times  before  he  would  fail  to  cast  his 
vote  for  so  meritorious  and  humane  a  bill. 

Mr.  Moseley  followed  the  bill  from  the  Capitol  to  the 
White  House,  as  he  himself  related  in  a  letter  written 
sixteen  years  afterward  to  President  Harrison's  Attorney- 
General  :  — 

INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION,  WASHINGTON. 

June  16,  1909. 
Office  of  the  Secretary, 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

HON.  WILLIAM  H.  H.  MILLER,  INDIANAPOLIS,  INDIANA. 

DEAR  GENERAL : 

My  good  friend,  Mr.  Michener,  dropped  in  this  morn- 
ing, and  our  conversation  led  to  the  old  days  and  the 
great  work  which  was  done  by  President  Harrison  in 
forcing  the  passage  of  what  is  known  as  the  "Car  Coupler 
Law."  I  shall  never  forget  the  great  impression  that  you 


68  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

made  upon  the  writer  at  the  time,  when  I  was  told  at  the 
White  House  that  I  had  better  see  you,  as  the  railroads 
had  made  a  final  protest,  and  that  the  President  had  re- 
ferred the  bill  to  you  for  the  purpose  of  advising  him  as 
to  whether  or  not  he  should  sign  it. 

I  went  to  your  office ;  there  had  been  a  large  delegation 
of  railway  attorneys  and  others  to  see  you  to  urge  you  to 
advise  the  President  to  adopt  their  view,  and  I  shall  never 
forget  what  you  said  to  me,  —  "Moseley,  I  don't  like 
your  bill."  My  heart  was  in  my  mouth  when,  with  a 
great  deal  of  force,  you  brought  your  fist  down  on  the 
table  and  said,  " because,  it  is  not  half  strong  enough." 
I  have  been  your  ardent  admirer  ever  since. 

But  the  bill  with  all  its  faults,  which  you  were  so  ready 
to  perceive,  has  done  a  wonderful  work,  and  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Mr.  Michener  I  take  pleasure  in  sending  you  a 
copy  of  defendant's  brief  in  the  case  of  International  and 
Great  Northern  Railroad  Company  v.  United  States  of 
America,  No.  1776.  By  glancing  over  this  brief  you  will 
see  the  great  benefit  that  this  bill  has  been  as  an  instru- 
ment of  saving  life  and  limb. 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

Another  letter  completes  the  record  of  the  enact- 
ment :  — 

EXECUTIVE  MANSION,  WASHINGTON. 

February  27,  1893. 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  ESQ., 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  MOSELEY: 

I  have  your  letter  of  the  18th  instant.  You  certainly 
have  earned  the  pen,  and  when  the  President  approves 
the  bill,  I  will  see  that  it  is  reserved  for  you. 

Congratulating  you  upon  the  passage  of  this  most 
righteous  measure,  and  wishing  you  all  good  things, 

Very  truly  yours, 
E.  W.  HALFORD, 
Private  Secretary. 


THE  FIRST  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT          69 

Had  the  author  of  this  legislation  been  in  the  Senate 
or  House,  his  name  would  have  been  attached  to  it  and 
it  would  be  known  to  the  world  as  the  "Moseley  Law." 
By  reason  of  his  position,  however,  Mr.  Moseley  neces- 
sarily had  done  his  work  in  the  name  of  the  Commis- 
sion ;  but  those  who  could  know  what  part  he  had  taken 
in  framing  and  passing  the  act  awarded  him  full  credit, 
as  the  following  testimonials  bear  witness :  — 

BROTHERHOOD  OF  LOCOMOTIVE  FIREMEN, 

In  the  Fourth  Biennial  Congress  assembled,  express 
their  appreciation  and  gratitude  for  services  rendered  by 
Edward  A.  Moseley,  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  through  whose  faithful  and  earnest  efforts 
before  the  Committee  on  Interstate  Commerce,  the 
" Coupler  Bill"  was  passed  by  Congress  and  became  a 
law,  during  the  administration  of  President  Harrison, 
March  2d,  eighteen  hundred  and  ninety-three. 

The  " Coupler  Bill"  required  the  placing  of  automatic 
couplers  upon  all  freight  cars  and  the  equipment  of  loco- 
motives with  safety  air  brakes,  making  the  lives  of  rail- 
way employees  as  safe  as  possible  by  the  ingenuity  of  man. 

ORDER  OF  RAILWAY  CONDUCTORS  OF  AMERICA 

At  the  twenty-fourth  Grand  Division  of  the  Order  of 
Railway  Conductors,  held  at  Toledo,  Ohio,  May  17,  1893, 
the  following  resolution  was  adopted :  — 

Whereas,  The  conductors  running  trains  and  in  other 
service  on  the  railroads  are  directly  interested  in  the  ques- 
tion of  a  standard  form  of  coupler  for  use  on  freight  and 
passenger  cars,  and  whereas  the  late  law  of  Congress  calls 
for  uniformity  on  freight  cars,  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  the  thanks  of  the  O.  R.  C.  are  hereby 
tendered  to  the  worthy  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission,  Edward  A.  Moseley,  for  his  efforts  in 
securing  safety  appliance  legislation  for  railroad  employees. 
E.  E.  CLARK,  Grand  Chief  Conductor. 
WM.  P.  DANIELS,  Grand  Secretary  and  Treasurer. 


70  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

BROTHERHOOD  OF  RAILROAD  TRAINMEN 
To  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

In  grateful  recognition  of  his  valuable  assistance  and 
unselfish  interest,  which  contributed  in  no  small  measure 
toward  the  enactment  of  the  Automatic  Coupler  and 
Power  Brake  Law,  giving  to  the  railway  employees  of  the 
United  States  greater  security  to  life  and  limb  in  their 
hazardous  vocation,  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Train- 
men at  its  second  biennial  convention,  held  at  Galesburg, 
Illinois,  May  20  to  June  5,  inclusive,  eighteen  hundred 
and  ninety-five,  makes  sincere  acknowledgment  of  the 
sterling  friendship  of  Honorable  Edward  A.  Moseley. 

Railway  trainmen,  men  who  face  danger  and  death  in  a 
struggle  to  win  their  daily  bread,  know  and  appreciate 
a  true  friend.  Formal  words  of  thanks  are  small  com- 
pensation for  such  substantial  evidences  of  good  will, 
but  we  wish  to  give  expression  to  our  hope  that  Mr. 
Moseley's  remaining  years  may  be  many  and  filled  with 
the  brightest  and  best  of  the  earth. 

P.  H.  MORRISEY,  Grand  Master. 
Attest : 

W.  A.  SHEAHAN,  Secretary. 

SWITCHMEN'S  MUTUAL  AID  ASSOCIATION  OF  NORTH 

AMERICA 

At  the  eighth  National  Convention  of  the  Switchmen's 
Mutual  Association,  held  at  Evansville,  Indiana,  May 
14th,  1894,  it  was 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  sense  of  this  convention  to  ex- 
tend our  sincere  thanks  to  the  Honorable  Edward  A. 
Moseley,  for  his  kindly  interest  in  furthering  the  adoption 
of  the  many  safety  appliances  now  in  use  on  railroads. 

J.  E.  WILSON,  Grand  Master. 

JOHN  DOWNEY,  First  Vice-Grand  Master. 

MILES  W.  BARRETT,  Second  Vice-Grand  Master. 

J.  M.  MURPHY,  Grand  Secretary  and  Treasurer. 

The  Railroad  Yard  Masters'  Association,  at  their 
fourth  annual  convention,  also  passed  resolutions  tender- 


THE  FIRST  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT          71 

ing  a  vote  of  thanks  for  the  services  which  Mr.  Moseley 
rendered  in  the  passage  of  the  bill. 

AT  THE  REGULAR  MEETING 

BIENNIAL  CONVENTION  BROTHERHOOD  LOCOMOTIVE 
ENGINEERS 

Held  in  St.  Paul,  Minnesota,  May  9,  1894,  the  following 
preamble  and  resolutions  were  adopted,  to  wit : 

Whereas,  The  Honorable  Edward  A.  Moseley,  Secretary 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  has,  at  all  times 
and  under  all  circumstances,  by  his  untiring  efforts  and 
his  ready  and  willing  assistance,  manifested  his  interest 
in  labor  organizations  and  their  representatives  and  in 
this  body  especially,  therefore  be  it 

Resolved,  That  this  Grand  International  Body  in  con- 
vention assembled,  fully  realizing  the  importance  of  the 
service  rendered  by  Mr.  Moseley  and  the  readiness  with 
which  he  has  responded  to  any  request  made  upon  him 
so  far  as  it  was  consistent  with  his  duty  as  an  officer  of 
the  government,  take  this  opportunity  to  testify  our 
high  appreciation  of  not  only  the  service  rendered,  but 
the  spirit  that  prompted  it. 

That  the  individual  and  united  thanks  of  this  Grand 
Body  be  tendered  Mr.  Moseley,  and  that  we  hereby 
pledge  ourselves  to  make  use  of  any  opportunity  that 
may  present  itself  to  prove  our  appreciation  by  acts  as 
well  as  by  words. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  suitably 
engrossed  and  signed  by  our  grand  officers,  be  forwarded 
to  Mr.  Moseley  for  his  acceptance. 
P.  M.  ARTHUR,  Grand  Chief  T.  S.  INGRAHM,  First 

Engineer.  Grand  Engineer. 

A.     B.    YOUNGSON,    Asst.  C.  H.  SALMONS,  Second 

Grand  Chief  Engineer.  Grand  Engineer. 

DELOSS  EVERETT,  Third  Grand  Engineer. 

Those  resolutions,  engrossed  and  framed,  were  the 
cherished  adornments  of  the  walls  of  the  Secretary's 


72  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

office  as  long  as  Mr.   Moseley  lived.    The  Locomotive 
Firemen's  Magazine  made  this  record  of  his  services  :  — 

The  law  passed  by  the  late  Congress  relating  to  safety 
appliances  on  railroad  trains  marks  an  epoch  in  legis- 
lation of  great  significance.  It  demonstrates  that  the 
law-making  power  of  the  country  does  take  some  interest 
in  human  life.  If  corporations  are  without  souls,  as  is 
generally  believed,  it  does  not  follow,  fortunately,  that 
Congress  is  equally  destitute  in  that  regard,  and  can  not 
be  aroused  to  a  sense  of  obligation  to  do  right.  It  requires 
time  and  patience,  however,  to  educate  the  average  Con- 
gress. It  is  a  great  body  and  moves  slowly.  To  convince 
it,  and  then  instill  into  it  the  required  courage  to  act,  is 
a  herculean  task. 

Only  the  few  are  able  to  comprehend  the  conflicting 
influences  brought  to  bear  upon  Congress  when  any  im- 
portant measure  demands  action,  and  especially  is  this 
true  when  the  measure,  in  any  sense,  antagonizes  the 
greed  of  corporations.  In  such  cases  capital  and  brains  are 
in  alliance,  and  if  the  measure  provides  protection  for 
workingmen,  the  tremendous  disparity  of  influences  is 
seen  at  once.  To  enact  a  law  "to  promote  the  safety  of 
employees  upon  railroads"  brought  out  the  full  force  of 
corporation  opposition,  and,  to  succeed,  labor  was  chal- 
lenged to  put  forth  every  power  at  its  command,  and  in 
the  trial  it  found  in  the  person  of  Mr.  Edward  A.  Moseley 
a  champion  whose  steadfast  fidelity  is  worthy  of  the 
highest  commendation. 

We  have  on  our  table  documentary  evidence  of  Mr. 
Moseley's  untiring  labors,  as  also  the  opposition  that  had 
to  be  overcome  to  secure  the  passage  of  the  important 
measure,  all  indicating  his  comprehension  of  the  situation 
and  displaying,  not  only  unflagging  fidelity  to  the  welfare 
of  labor,  but  diplomatic  skill  of  the  first  order  in  dealing 
with  law  makers.  We  are  made  acquainted  with  the 
vote  of  each  member  of  Congress,  and  also  his  party  affili- 
ations for  future  reference,  in  all  of  which  we  see  Mr. 
Moseley 's  splendid  management.  It  affords  the  magazine 
unstinted  satisfaction  to  give  Mr.  Moseley  the  fullest 


THE  FIRST  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT          73 

possible  recognition  for  his  labors  and  sacrifices,  and  to 
pledge  him  that  his  work  will  not  be  forgotten. 

At  the  national  convention  of  state  railroad  commis- 
sioners, the  committee  on  safety  appliances  spread  on  the 
minutes  this  acknowledgment :  — 

We  desire  in  this  report  to  make  special  mention  of 
the  services  rendered  by  Mr.  Edward  A.  Moseley,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  We  can 
state  with  a  degree  of  positiveness  that  he  gave  himself 
no  rest  until  assured  of  success  in  the  passage  of  the  Safety 
Appliance  Bill.  Kind  and  courteous  in  his  manner,  ever 
ready  to  lend  an  assisting  hand  to  all  in  their  efforts  to 
have  a  just  and  humane  law  passed  that  would  give  to  the 
railroad  employees  more  security  to  life  and  limb,  he  will 
ever  be  remembered  as  an  earnest  advocate  of  measures 
that  were  of  great  interest  and  benefit  to  railroad  em- 
ployees, and  to  him  we  can  truthfully  say  we  owe,  in  a 
greater  measure  than  to  any  other,  the  success  of  the  bill 
that  has  become  a  law. 

No  congratulatory  message  was  more  prompt,  and  we 
may  be  sure  that  none  gave  its  recipient  more  pleasure, 
than  this  letter  from  his  mother,  written  on  the  day  that 
President  Harrison  signed  the  act,  and  in  the  last  year  of 
her  life :  — 

NEWBURYPORT,  March  22,  1893. 

MY  DARLING  BOY: 

I  must  write  to  congratulate  you  upon  your  great 
achievement.  From  your  first  efforts  in  the  cause,  I  have 
taken  the  greatest  interest  in  its  success.  Ah,  my  dear 
one,  you  are  the  philanthropist  among  my  sons.  How 
proud  I  am  of  you.  You  make  your  mother's  heart 
rejoice.  Now,  your  name  will  be  blessed  all  over  the 
land. 

The  articles  you  have  written  and  sent  me  on  the  sub- 


74  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

ject,  I  have  read  most  diligently,  and  I  thank  you  for 
them;    they  are  so  to  the  point. 

My  eyes  trouble  me  so  much  that  I  can  write  no  more. 
May  the  blessings  of  heaven  rest  upon  you,  is  the  earnest 
prayer  of  your  fond  mother, 

CHARLOTTE  A.  MOSELEY. 

The  father  added  this  postscript :  — 

DEAR  EDWARD  : 

I  will  not  attempt  to  gild  refined  gold,  by  adding  any 
words  to  your  mother's  note. 

She  evidently  felt  great  interest  in  writing  you,  writing 
in  her  chamber  this  morning  almost  immediately  on  rising. 
I  cannot  express  my  sentiments  on  the  subject  better 
than  by  attempting  to  pass  hers  as  my  own  also. 

Affectionately, 
FATHER. 

Among  many  words  of  praise  in  the  press,  Mr.  Mose- 
ley's  home  paper,  the  Newburyport  News,  on  March  11, 
1893,  made  a  pertinent  suggestion :  — 

Massachusetts  has  become  one  of  the  foremost  states 
in  appeal  for  a  congressional  insistence  upon  a  uniform 
car  coupler  bill.  Each  year  has  witnessed  the  passage 
of  a  resolution  by  the  Bay  State  Legislature  setting  forth 
the  advantages  of  this  measure,  but  until  1893  the  efforts 
of  our  people  have  met  with  disappointment.  Now, 
thanks  in  a  great  measure  to  a  Massachusetts  man,  the 
car  coupler  bill  has  become  a  law,  and  the  railroad  men 
and  humanitarians  are  happy. 

It  would  be  eminently  fitting  for  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature  to  recognize  the  efforts  in  this  connection  of 
Secretary  Edward  A.  Moseley  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  By  his  zeal  he  has  made  possible  that 
which  Massachusetts  has  sought  for  years,  and  due  recog- 
nizance of  the  fact  might  well  be  taken.  Mr.  Moseley 
is  a  Newburyport  citizen,  and  our  city  has  four  people 


COMMONWEALTH    OF    MASSACHUSETTS. 

In  tlu  year  One  Thousand  Kight  Hundred  and  Xtnety  (hire . 


(Cvttutumwcalii) 


to 


THE  FIRST  SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT          75 

at  the  State  House  who  are  friends  of  Mr.  Moseley.  Let 
any  one  of  them  place  this  subject  before  the  Legislature 
and  we  predict  that  it  will  meet  with  favor  at  the  hands 
of  the  members  of  both  branches,  many  of  whom  know 
Mr.  Moseley  personally  and  all  of  whom  are  acquainted 
with  him  by  favorable  reputation. 

The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  being  in  session,  the 
chairman  of  the  house  committee  on  railroads,  Mr.  George 
von  L.  Meyer,  afterward  ambassador  and  cabinet  minis- 
ter, reported  a  resolve  which  passed  both  branches,  be- 
stowing on  Mr.  Moseley  the  high  and  rare  honor  of  the 
thanks  of  the  Commonwealth.  That  parchment,  bear- 
ing the  seal  of  his  native  state,  remained  always  his 
proudest  possession.  It  was  to  him  a  patent  of  nobility. 

COMMONWEALTH  OF  MASSACHUSETTS 

IN  THE  YEAR  ONE  THOUSAND,  EIGHT  HUNDRED   AND 

NINETY-THREE 

RESOLUTIONS 

TENDERING   THE   THANKS   OF   THE    COMMONWEALTH 

TO 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

Resolved,  that  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives, 
in  General  Court  assembled,  appreciating  the  valuable 
services  rendered  the  cause  of  humanity  by  Edward  A. 
Moseley  of  Newburyport  by  his  untiring  and  efficient 
efforts  to  secure  greater  safety  to  railroad  employees, 
hereby  tender  the  thanks  of  the  Commonwealth  to  him 
for  his  sincere  and  disinterested  labors  to  secure  the  pas- 
sage of  the  law  requiring  railroads  engaged  in  interstate 
commerce  to  equip  their  freight  cars  with  automatic 
couplers. 

Resolved,  That  a  copy  of  these  resolutions,  suitably 
engrossed  and  signed  by  the  President  and  Clerk  of  the 


76  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Senate,  and  the  Speaker  and  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of 
Representatives,  be  forwarded  to  Mr.  Moseley. 

Senate,  April  4,  1893. 

Adopted.     ALFRED  S.  PINKERTON,  President. 
HENRY  D.  COOLIDGE,  Clerk. 

House  of  Representatives,  April  10,  1893. 
Adopted.     WILLIAM  E.  BARRETT,  Speaker. 
EDWARD  A.  MCLAUGHLIN,  Clerk. 

Witness  the  Seal  of  the  Commonwealth. 

WILLIAM  M.  OLIN,  Secretary. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  BRAKEMAN  WHO  LOST  A  HAND 

THE  battle  for  the  Safety  Appliance  Act  was  not  yet 
won ;  it  really  had  only  begun.  For  the  act  had  yet  to 
be  enforced  and  to  run  the  gantlet  of  the  courts. 

Mr.  Moseley  began  at  once  to  prepare  himself  for  the 
task  of  enforcing  the  law  all  along  the  lines  of  the  thou- 
sand railroads  to  which  it  applied.  It  was  so  generally 
regarded  as  his  law  that  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission left  its  enforcement  to  him  through  all  the  re- 
maining years  of  his  service.  To  meet  that  duty,  he  was 
drawn  into  a  close  study  of  railroading. 

He  had  already  made  himself  the  leading  authority 
in  Washington  on  the  practical  operation  of  the  rail- 
roads, and  in  the  further  course  of  his  duties  he  gained  a 
remarkably  intimate  knowledge  of  the  business  of  rail- 
road transportation  and  the  lives  of  those  engaged  in 
handling  that  vast  traffic.  His  mind  was  filled  with 
pictures  of  the  men  in  the  cab  and  the  caboose,  at  the 
brake  and  the  switch,  and  their  labors  and  perils  grew 
to  be  as  real  to  his  vision  as  if  he  himself  had  borne  them. 

The  Safety  Appliance  Act  being  an  entirely  new  de- 
parture in  Federal  legislation,  it  was  certain  to  be  stub- 
bornly contested  line  by  line.  To  meet  that  contest,  Mr. 

Moseley  plunged  into  a  study  of  the  history  of  consti- 

77 


78  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

tutional  law  and  judicial  rulings  affecting  the  intricate 
relations  of  the  nation  to  the  states. 

The  novelty  of  the  new  act  placed  it  at  a  disadvantage 
in  court.  The  law  is  a  most  conservative  profession. 
Judges  generally,  by  reason  of  their  age  and  station,  are 
slow  to  recognize  new  conditions  and  the  new  principles 
of  legislation  which  a  younger  generation  has  devised  to 
meet  them.  Moreover,  it  was  the  special  misfortune  of 
this  law  that  many  judges,  particularly  in  the  West, 
had  been  railroad  attorneys  before  their  appointment 
to  the  bench,  and  the  exclusively  railroad  point  of  view 
often  remained  their  habit  of  mind.  A  few  of  them, 
indeed,  seemed  not  to  be  conscious  that  their  position  on 
the  bench  should  work  a  change  in  their  relations  with 
railroads. 

In  an  article  in  Transportation  for  September,  1893, 
Mr.  Moseley  brought  up  the  case  of  a  Federal  judge,  who 
was  said  to  have  accepted  free  passage  over  a  line  which 
was  applying  for  an  injunction  against  its  striking  work- 
men, and  who  sat  in  a  private  office  of  the  company 
when  he  issued  the  writ  without  the  knowledge  of  the 
men.  Mr.  Moseley  raised  the  question  whether,  if  such 
conduct  were  permissible  in  a  judge,  it  was  fair  to  dismiss 
and  disgrace  a  juror  for  dining  with  a  party  to  a  suit. 

In  one  of  his  pamphlets,  which  he  circulated  widely, 
he  quoted  Mr.  Milton  H.  Smith,  president  of  the  Louis- 
ville and  Nashville,  as  having  testified  before  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  when  asked  as  to  what 
extent  his  road  gave  passes  to  judges:  "I  think  I  will 
have  to  refer  you  to  our  attorney.  I  think  Mr.  Baxter 


THE  BRAKEMAN   WHO   LOST  A  HAND          79 

has  been  of  the  opinion,  and  I  fear  most  of  our  attorneys 
have  been  of  the  same  opinion,  that  it  is  well  not  to  appear 
before  a  judge  unless  he  has  a  pass  if  he  wants  one." 

Mr.  Moseley  was  already  a  member  of  the  bar  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  when  the  Safety 
Appliance  Law  was  passed.  President  Cleveland  had 
advised  him,  shortly  after  coming  to  Washington,  to 
study  law,  and  it  was  under  the  able  direction  of  Judge 
Cooley  that  he  prepared  for  his  successful  examination. 
He  was  duly  enrolled  as  a  member  of  the  bar  in  1889, 
before  most  of  those  about  him  knew  that  he  had  thought 
of  such  a  thing.  A  letter  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Safety 
Appliance  Committee  of  the  Railroad  Commissioners 
shows  his  interest  in  law  when  his  duties  under  the 
Safety  Appliance  Act  were  only  beginning:  — 

INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION, 

OFFICE  OF  THE  SECRETARY,  WASHINGTON. 

March  18,  1893. 
HON.  GEORGE  G.  CROCKER, 

19  Milk  Street,  Boston,  Mass. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  CROCKER: 

When  I  first,  at  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Cleveland,  deter- 
mined to  acquire  some  familiarity  with  the  jurisprudence 
of  our  country,  I  took  the  advice  of  that  eminent  sage  of 
the  law,  Judge  Thomas  M.  Cooley.  His  suggestion  was 
that  I  should  commence  my  studies  by  a  most  careful 
reading  of  Cooley's  Edition  of  Blackstone's  Commentaries. 

By  reference  to  page  sixty  of  volume  one,  third  edition, 
of  that  great  work  you  will  find  a  cardinal  rule  laid  down 
for  the  construction  of  all  laws,  which  made  a  very  pro- 
found impression  upon  me.  It  is  that  "As  to  the  effects 
and  consequences,  the  rule  is  that  where  words  bear  none 
or  a  very  absurd  signification,  if  literally  understood,  we 
must  a  little  deviate  from  the  received  sense  of  them," 


80  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

and  the  great  commentator  follows  the  general  principle 
thus  laid  with  a  most  apposite  illustration,  as  follows : 
"  Therefore,  the  Bolognian  law  mentioned  by  Puffendorf, 
which  enacted  that  whoever  drew  blood  in  the  streets 
should  be  punished  with  the  utmost  severity,  was  held, 
after  long  debate,  not  to  extend  to  the  surgeon  who 
opened  the  vein  of  a  person  that  fell  down  in  the  street 
with  a  fit." 

I  agree  with  you  that  the  second  section  of  the  act  may, 
not  must,  bear  literally  the  interpretation  which  you  place 
upon  it,  and  I  have  read  with  interest  your  last  favor, 
the  theory  of  which  I  think  would  have  consigned  to 
condign  punishment  the  surgeon  who  bled  a  fainting 
person  in  the  street.  Jesting  aside,  I  can  only  refer  you 
again  to  the  principle  which  I  suggested  in  my  last  to  you, 
that  this  law  must  be  construed,  as  all  legislation  must  be, 
with  reference  to  the  evil  sought  to  be  remedied  by  its 
enactment.  This  rule  of  construction  I  think  would 
certainly  sustain  my  view,  but  aside  from  this  it  strikes 
me  that  much  the  most  reasonable,  literal  interpretation 
of  the  law  is  what  I  contend  for. 

Your  interpretation,  as  I  most  respectfully  but  very  con- 
fidently suggest,  not  only  violates  the  principle  which 
makes  legislative  intent  the  cardinal  rule  of  interpretation, 
but  appears  to  me  to  be  a  strained  construction  of  the 
very  wording  of  the  act.  However,  as  I  said  before,  I 
should  greatly  prefer  the  act  as  originally  drafted  by  you, 
was  pledged  to  it,  and  did  all  in  my  power  to  secure  its 
enactment. 

I  am  convinced  that  the  sound,  literal  interpretation, 
as  well  as  the  intent  of  section  two,  is  that  while  any  road 
may  adopt  any  coupler  it  pleases,  it  must  do  so  with  this 
limitation,  that  any  coupler  so  adopted  must  not  only 
act  automatically  with  all  other  couplers  used,  owned  or 
controlled  by  that  particular  company,  but  it  must  couple 
automatically  with  the  coupler  of  any  car  belonging  to 
any  other  company  or  person,  which  the  first  company 
may  undertake  to  haul  upon  its  line. 

However,  dear  Mr.  Crocker,  I  feel  that  I  can  well  con- 
tinue to  sit  at  the  feet  of  Gamaliel.  With  my  great  regard 
and  respect  for  you  and  your  opinion,  it  may  seem  pre- 


THE  BRAKEMAN  WHO  LOST  A  HAND         81 

sumption  to  entertain  views  antagonistic  to  your  own 
upon  a  question  of  statutory  interpretation ;  but  as  our 
old  friend  Butler  in  Hudibras  says,  "He  that  complies 
against  his  will  is  of  his  own  opinion  still." 

But  the  crucial  test  is  soon  to  come.  Mr.  Safford  and 
the  advocates  of  the  link-and-pin  type  are  arrayed  in  a 
final  struggle  with  those  who  advocate  the  principle  of  the 
vertical  plane  in  couplers.  I  thank  God  that  I  will  not 
have  the  slightest  pecuniary  interest  in  this  fight,  and 
truly  I  do  not  care  which  wins.  I  can  express  my  position 
in  one  simple  sentence :  That  the  principle  of  coupling 
without  personal  intervention  shall  be  universal.  I  am, 

With  great  regard, 

Most  sincerely  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

Although  in  earlier  days  the  least  bookish  of  men,  Mr. 
Moseley  brought  to  bear  on  his  study  of  the  legal  aspects 
of  his  work  an  unusual  power  of  concentration  and  an 
original  and  ingenious  mind.  He  took  his  books  to  bed 
with  him  and  read  them  until  nature  asserted  herself  and 
he  fell  asleep.  He  discussed  the  subject  with  every 
lawyer  he  met,  and  surprised  well-trained  members  of  the 
bar  by  the  originality  of  his  deductions.  Working  largely 
in  a  new  field,  he  was  driven  to  take  advanced  ground  on 
the  question  of  Federal  authority. 

By  the  provisions  of  the  new  law,  every  locomotive 
engaged  in  interstate  commerce  must  be  equipped  with 
a  power  driving-wheel  brake  and  appliances  for  operating 
the  air-brake  system,  and  every  train  must  contain  a 
sufficient  number  of  cars  with  air  brakes  to  enable  it  to 
be  controlled  by  the  engineer  without  the  necessity  of  a 
brakeman  setting  the  old  hand  brakes.  It  was  further 
required  that  all  cars  employed  in  interstate  commerce 


82  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

should  have  automatic  couplers  which  would  couple  by 
mere  impact  and  so  devised  that  they  could  be  coupled 
and  uncoupled  without  the  necessity  of  a  man  going 
between  them. 

To  give  the  railroad  companies  sufficient  time  in  which 
to  equip  their  cars  with  safety  appliances,  the  law  did  not 
become  fully  effective  until  August  1,  1900.  Only  five 
days  afterward,  a  brakeman  named  W.  O.  Johnson  lost  a 
hand  while  coupling  a  dining  car  to  a  locomotive  at 
Promontory,  a  little  station  on  the  Southern  Pacific  Rail- 
road in  the  state  of  Utah.  While  both  the  locomotive 
and  the  dining  car  were  equipped  with  automatic  couplers, 
they  were  so  different  in  type  that  they  could  not  be 
coupled  by  impact,  and  Johnson  was  ordered  to  go 
between  them  to  make  the  coupling.  His  hand  was 
caught  and  crushed  so  badly  that  it  had  to  be  amputated 
above  the  wrist. 

The  maiming  of  that  brakeman  on  that  far-away 
siding  in  Utah  put  the  new  law  to  the  test.  The  judge 
of  the  trial  court,  on  motion  of  the  attorney  for  the  rail- 
road, directed  the  jury  to  find  in  favor  of  the  company, 
whereupon  the  brakeman7 s  case  was  appealed  to  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Appeals.  When  that  court  had  finished 
with  the  case,  it  was  found  that  the  Safety  Appliance 
Act  was  more  sadly  maimed  than  poor  Johnson  himself. 
It,  too,  had  been  caught  between  the  bumpers  and  its 
life  all  but  crushed  out. 

The  decision,  written  by  Judge  Sanborn,  was  a  most 
learned  disquisition  on  many  subjects,  but  with  scant 
reference  to  the  lost  hand.  The  court  held  that  although 


THE  BRAKEMAN  WHO  LOST  A  HAND         83 

the  act  required  automatic  couplers  on  cars,  a  locomotive 
was  not  a  car;  that  although  the  dining  car  was  being 
turned  in  order  to  be  placed  in  an  interstate  train  bound 
for  San  Francisco,  it  was  not  actually  engaged  in  inter- 
state commerce  at  the  moment  when  the  accident  oc- 
curred; that  since  the  couplers  were  automatic,  they 
complied  with  the  law,  even  if  they  were  of  such  different 
patterns  that  they  could  not  be  automatically  coupled. 

That  would  probably  have  been  the  end  of  the  John- 
son case  in  the  ordinary  course  of  litigation.  The  wounded 
brakeman  would  hardly  have  found  the  money  or  the 
courage  to  carry  his  suit  against  his  former  employer  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  twenty-five 
hundred  miles  away.  Two  judges  sitting  with  Judge 
Sanborn  had  concurred  in  the  decision,  which  sustained 
the  adverse  decision  of  the  court  below.  Four  judges 
against  one  crippled  brakeman ! 

At  that  point,  however,  Mr.  Moseley,  who  had  been 
anxiously  watching  the  case,  took  it  up,  determined  to 
defend  at  once  the  rights  of  the  brakeman  and  the  life 
of  the  law.  If  the  act  could  not  secure  automatic  couplers 
and  protect  men  from  going  between  cars,  he  saw  that  it 
would  be  worthless  and  all  his  years  of  hard  work  wasted. 
He  went  to  the  President  and  the  attorney-general,  and 
through  the  influence  of  the  government  a  writ  of  cer- 
tiorari  was  granted  by  the  Supreme  Court.  By  this 
means  the  case  was  brought  before  the  highest  court  in 
the  land. 

That  was  but  the  opening  of  the  fight.  Unless  the 
case  were  presented  to  the  Supreme  Court  in  accordance 


84  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

with  Mr.  Moseley's  own  carefully  designed  plan,  the 
result  might  and  probably  would  be  the  same  as  in  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Appeals,  a  victory  for  the  railroad  and 
a  defeat  for  the  injured  man.  In  the  latter  court  the 
opinion  favorable  to  the  railroad  was  written  by  a  most 
intellectual  judge,  well  trained  in  all  the  niceties  of  legal 
precision.  It  bore  every  mark  of  a  strong  legal  mind, 
and  to  most  lawyers  it  would  seem  to  be  conclusive. 

The  opinion  would  have  been  conclusive  had  it  been 
answered  only  with  legal  platitudes.  Mr.  Moseley  saw 
that  clearly.  He  knew  that  it  was  necessary  to  get  before 
the  Supreme  Court  the  stern  realities  of  the  railroad  man's 
dangerous  calling,  in  order  to  show  the  situation  with 
which  Congress  was  dealing  when  it  adopted  the  law. 
To  be  able  to  do  that,  he  boldly  adopted  a  course  unknown 
to  our  system  of  jurisprudence.  He  urged  Mr.  Knox, 
then  the  attorney-general,  to  intervene  and  file  a  brief  on 
behalf  of  the  government.  Such  a  thing  never  had 
been  done  hi  the  long  existence  of  the  department  of 
justice. 

The  case  was  mere  private  litigation :  Johnson  v. 
Southern  Pacific  Railway.  How  could  the  government 
become  a  party  to  it?  Why  should  the  government 
throw  its  great  weight  in  the  scales  of  justice  in  a  pri- 
vate case  ?  Simply  to  save  the  law  from  being  done  to 
death. 

Mr.  Moseley  asked  that  the  department  request 
permission  to  file  a  brief,  in  order  to  bring  to  the  notice 
of  the  court  what  the  government  deemed  to  be  a 
proper  interpretation  of  the  statute  and  in  order  that  its 


THE  BRAKEMAN  WHO  LOST  A  HAND         85 

integrity  might  be  preserved.  He  appreciated  the  fact 
that  it  was  better  to  have  the  law  adjudicated  for  the  first 
time  in  a  case  where  harm  had  been  done  to  an  indi- 
vidual, rather  than  in  some  government  prosecution  for 
a  penalty.  An  application  of  the  law  to  a  violation  which 
had  not  caused  an  injury  to  any  one  would  perhaps  im- 
press the  judges  as  technical  and  result  hi  the  court 
approaching  the  subject  in  a  technical  rather  than  hi  a 
broad  and  humane  spirit  favorable  to  the  remedial  fea- 
tures of  the  law.  The  government  consented  to  intervene, 
and  a  new  precedent  was  made.  '$• 

No  one  but  a  man  of  Mr.  Moseley's  large  heart  and 
superb  vigor  could  have  succeeded  hi  arousing  the  in- 
terest of  the  chief  law  officers  of  the  United  States  hi  a 
poor  brakeman's  suit  for  damages  against  a  powerful 
railroad.  There  was  no  impropriety  in  the  action,  for 
the  law,  by  its  terms,  required  a  governmental  body,  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  to  enforce  its  pro- 
visions. Therefore,  as  Mr.  Moseley  argued,  it  was 
proper  for  law  officers  of  the  government  to  appear  in  a 
proceeding  hi  which  that  law  was  to  be  interpreted  by 
the  highest  court. 

For  weeks  and  months  before  the  matter  was  pre- 
sented hi  court,  Mr.  Moseley  was  in  constant  consulta- 
tion with  railroad  men  and  with  the  lawyers  who  were 
to  represent  the  brakeman.  He  consulted  with  President 
Roosevelt  and  Attorney-General  Moody,  who  had  suc- 
ceeded Mr.  Knox,  and  he  enlisted  the  great  assistance  of 
Mr.  Moody  and  Solicitor-General  Hoyt.  The  latter 
officials,  the  highest  law  officers  of  the  government,  filed 


86  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

a  strong  and  able  brief  for  an  interpretation  of  the  law 
favorable  to  its  vitality. 

To  cause  the  government  to  intervene  in  a  case  be- 
tween private  parties,  was  not  the  only  innovation 
which  Mr.  Moseley  brought  about  in  his  contest  for  the 
life  of  the  law.  He  determined  to  reach  the  heart  of  the 
court  by  a  vivid  representation  of  the  danger  of  coupling 
cars  with  link  and  pin.  A  lawyer  of  the  regular  school, 
who  realized  that  the  case  was  to  be  tried  on  the  printed 
record,  would  have  felt  obliged  to  confine  himself  to  it, 
for  fear  of  a  rebuke  if  he  attempted  to  call  to  the  atten- 
tion of  the  court  anything  not  in  the  record.  But  Mr. 
Moseley  was  not  daunted,  and  he  insisted  that  the  rule 
confining  comment  and  argument  to  the  record  was  not 
violated  by  illustrating  to  the  court  what  the  record 
really  meant. 

At  much  expense,  he  had  large  photographs  and  cuts 
made  showing  men  in  the  act  of  coupling  cars  with 
couplers  like  those  which  had  maimed  Johnson.  Thus 
he  interpreted  the  record  to  the  court  pictorially,  so  that 
the  justices  had  before  them  not  only  the  words  of  the 
record,  but  the  real  and  vital  facts  in  the  case.  He  went 
further,  and  at  considerable  trouble  had  a  model  made  of 
cars  with  automatic  coupling  devices  attached.  When 
this  was  brought  into  the  chamber  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
the  attention  of  the  justices  was  called  for  the  first 
time  to  a  demonstration  of  the  safety  and  efficiency  of 
the  automatic  method  of  coupling,  without  the  necessity 
of  a  man  going  between  the  cars  -and  endangering  his 
life. 


THE  BRAKEMAN  WHO  LOST  A  HAND         87 

In  short,  the  court  was  interested  in  the  human  and 
mechanical  problem  which  was  before  it.  All  this  re- 
quired careful  preparation  and  planning  for  weeks  and 
months.  Care  was  taken  to  place  before  the  court  all 
statistics  that  had  a  bearing  on  the  matter.  The  statis- 
tics of  the  deaths  and  injuries  from  coupling  cars  were 
startling.  They  were  accurately  compiled,  were  used 
fairly  to  strengthen  the  case,  and  their  application  was 
made  clear  to  the  aspect  of  the  controversy  then  before 
the  court.  Every  phase  of  the  legislative  history  of  the 
act,  the  interpretation  of  which  was  then  to  be  judicially 
made,  was  placed  before  the  justices,  and  particular  atten- 
tion was  directed  to  the  remarkable  declaration  of  Pres- 
ident Harrison,  in  one  of  his  messages  urging  the  safety 
appliance  legislation,  to  the  effect  that  the  perils  of  our 
railroad  employees  constituted  a  reproach  to  our  civiliza- 
tion. 

The  Supreme  Court  gave  the  victory  to  the  brakeman 
and  the  law.  Chief  Justice  Fuller  delivered  the  opinion, 
in  which  he  employed  the  quotation  from  President 
Harrison  that  Mr.  Moseley  had  laid  before  the  court, 
and  he  commended  the  diligence  of  counsel  in  presenting 
the  history  of  the  legislation ;  the  decision  of  the  Circuit 
Court  of  Appeals  was  reversed,  and  the  case  was  re- 
manded for  a  new  trial. 

The  final  document  hi  the  record  of  the  matter  is 
pathetic,  so  typical  of  the  law's  delay.  When  nearly 
eight  years  had  passed  since  Johnson  lost  his  hand,  the 
following  telegrams  were  exchanged : — 


88  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

OGDEN,  UTAH,  April  16,  1908. 
HON.  E.  A.  MOSELEY, 
Secretary  Interstate  Commerce, 
Washington,  D.C. 

What  is  your  advice  as  to  accepting  three  thousand, 
Johnson  case,  considering  poverty  and  heavy  expense; 
answer. 

W.  L.  MAGINNIS. 


WASHINGTON,  April  17,  1908. 
W.  L.  MAGINNIS, 
Eccles  Building, 
Ogden,  Utah. 

Our  advice  is  for  you  to  accept  it. 

EDWABD  A.  MOSELEY. 


CHAPTER  XII 
BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND  WIDOWS 

HOWEVER  Johnson  may  have  fared,  a  decisive  victory 
had  been  won  in  his  name  for  all  the  tens  of  thousands 
of  trainmen  in  the  country.  The  court  of  last  resort 
had  said  that  thenceforth  they  should  not  be  required  to 
go  between  cars  for  the  purpose  of  coupling  them  and  risk 
life  and  limb,  as  he  had  been  ordered  to  do. 

The  Johnson  case  took  an  important  place  in  the  litera- 
ture of  statute  law  and  has  been  cited  in  nearly  all  the 
decisions  that  have  followed  in  cases  arising  under  the 
Safety  Appliance  Act.  Mr.  Moseley  gave  Chief  Justice 
Fuller's  opinion  the  widest  publicity  within  his  power, 
distributing  thousands  of  printed  copies  among  judges, 
lawyers,  labor  unions,  and  railway  managers. 

He  collected  and  forwarded  to  a  railway  journal,  for 
the  purposes  of  an  illustrated  article  on  the  celebrated 
case,  portraits  of  the  members  of  the  court,  President 
Roosevelt,  the  attorney-general,  and  solicitor-general  and 
of  all  the  persons  in  any  way  connected  —  except  his 
own.  "So  far  as  my  own  interest  in  the  matter  is  con- 
cerned, "  he  wrote  to  the  editor  in  the  spirit  that  ruled 
him  throughout  his  long  term  of  service,  "I  have  the 
satisfaction  of  knowing  that  we  won  out,  and  am  con- 
tent to  rest  in  the  consciousness  of  good  deeds  well 
done." 

89 


90  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Largely  by  his  bold  ingenuity,  energy,  and  persistence, 
a  new  precedent  had  been  established,  and  the  success 
attending  the  experiment  was  an  object  lesson  to  all  the 
departments.  A  new  and  powerful  weapon  of  defense 
had  been  developed,  and  Mr.  Moseley  announced  to  all 
concerned  that  "the  government  is  determined  that  no 
law  shall  receive  its  death  blow  by  judicial  construction 
unless  the  matter  has  first  been  fairly  presented  to  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States." 

He  watched  the  courts  all  over  the  Union  like  a  hawk, 
and  wherever  he  found  a  railway  worker  suing  to  recover 
for  injuries  inflicted  through  the  failure  of  a  railroad  to 
provide  safety  appliances,  he  went  to  the  defense  of  the 
law.  The  government  would  intervene,  as  in  the  John- 
son case,  in  an  effort  to  see  that  no  violator  of  the  act 
should  escape  the  consequences  when  the  violation  had 
caused  the  death  or  injury  of  an  employee. 

Nor  did  Mr.  Moseley  confine  his  watchfulness  to  the 
Federal  courts  alone.  To  the  astonishment  of  judges  and 
of  lawyers  engaged  in  this  branch  of  law,  attorneys  of  the 
national  government  intervened  even  in  cases  brought 
before  state  courts  to  save  the  act  from  virtual  nullifica- 
tion. In  Kansas,  a  trainman,  Brinkmeier,  was  injured 
while  coupling  cars  in  1900,  the  year  that  the  law  went 
fully  into  force,  and  the  jury  gave  him  a  verdict  for 
$6500  against  the  Missouri  Pacific  Railroad. 

The  counsel  for  the  company  did  not  take  the  course 
pursued  by  the  Southern  Pacific  in  the  Johnson  case, 
but  adopted  new  tactics.  They  asked  the  judge  to  in- 
struct the  jury  that  Brinkmeier  must  prove  that  the 


BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND  WIDOWS       91 

company  had  failed  to  use  " reasonable  care"  to  comply 
with  the  Safety  Appliance  Act.  The  judge  having  re- 
fused so  to  instruct,  the  point  was  carried  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Kansas,  and  that  court  set  aside  the  verdict 
and  ordered  a  new  trial,  hi  which  the  injured  man  was 
commanded  to  prove  that  the  railroad  did  not  use  reason- 
able care  to  provide  safety  appliances. 

Mr.  Moseley  learned  of  that  decision  from  a  newspaper 
clipping,  and  saw  at  once  that  the  law  was  again  in 
jeopardy.  He  hastened  to  secure  the  intervention  of  the 
United  States  in  the  case,  the  first  tune  the  nation  ever 
intervened  in  private  litigation  in  a  state  court  to  uphold 
the  integrity  of  a  national  law.  By  the  construction 
placed  on  it  hi  the  Kansas  court,  the  requirements  of  the 
act  were  not  absolute,  and  in  order  to  convict  a  railroad 
of  a  violation  it  would  be  necessary  to  prove  that  it  had 
failed  to  use  reasonable  care  to  comply  with  the  statute. 

The  United  States  asked  leave  to  have  the  point  re- 
argued.  The  court  gave  leave,  but  after  hearing  the 
argument  of  the  representative  of  the  Federal  govern- 
ment, whom  Mr.  Moseley  sent  to  Kansas  for  the  pur- 
pose, it  affirmed  its  former  judgment,  and  sent  Brink- 
meier  back  to  undergo  the  cost  and  delay  of  a  new  trial, 
with  the  added  burden  of  having  to  show  it  was  owing 
to  the  conscious  neglect  of  the  company  that  he  was 
injured,  an  almost  impossible  task. 

Again  the  case  came  before  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Kansas  on  appeal.  In  the  meantime,  the  ground  had 
been  taken  from  under  the  court  and  the  interpretation 
for  which  Mr.  Moseley  contended  had  become  thoroughly 


92  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

established,  and  it  is  now  recognized  by  all  the  courts 
that  compliance  with  the  Safety  Appliance  Act  is  an 
absolute,  mandatory  obligation.  The  point  was  finally 
settled  by  a  decision  Mr.  Moseley  took  special  pleasure 
in  reporting  in  the  following  letter,  which  illustrates  his 
close  attention  to  court  proceedings. 

May  18,  1908. 
DEAR  MR.  LOEB  : 

Justice  Moody  in  the  Supreme  Court  to-day  delivered  a 
most  important  opinion,  the  effects  of  which  will  be  very 
far  reaching.  It  holds  that  where  there  is  a  statute  pro- 
viding for  safety  appliances,  reasonable  care  and  due 
diligence  in  keeping  them  in  repair  are  not  sufficient  — 
that  the  obligation  of  this  law  is  absolute. 

I  have  prepared  a  little  memorandum  in  regard  to  this 
decision  which  I  inclose,  and  I  am  desirous  of  having  the 
President  see  it,  for  Justice  Moody  has  certainly  per- 
formed a  great  service  to  the  public  and  one  which  is  in 
line  with  the  various  recommendations  and  efforts  of  the 
President  in  the  matter  of  making  the  distribution  of  the 
economic  disadvantages  incident  to  great  corporations 
more  just.  It  will  be  a  great  cause  of  regret  if  the  public 
fail  to  notice  this  advanced  step  of  the  court. 
I  write  this  in  the  greatest  haste. 

With  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 
HON.  WILLIAM  LOEB,  JR., 

Secretary  to  the  President. 

Brinkmeier,  however,  never  recovered  damages.  When 
the  Kansas  Supreme  Court  found  itself  overwhelmed  by 
the  current  of  judicial  authority  against  the  position  it 
had  taken,  it  was  able  to  pick  flaws  in  his  counsel's  peti- 
tion, and  on  this  technical  point  it  was  sustained  by  the 
Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  after  Mr.  Moseley's 
death  — eleven  years  and  five  months  after  the  injury! 


BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND  WIDOWS       93 

While  Mr.  Moseley  was  battling  on  one  hand  to  sus- 
tain the  law  hi  the  courts,  he  constantly  carried  on  a 
campaign  in  Congress  for  amendments  and  new  statutes, 
designed  to  meet  every  question  or  doubt  raised  by  rail- 
road attorneys  and  ultraconservative  judges.  Thus  the 
weak  spots  in  the  legislation,  which  it  was  his  duty  to 
enforce,  were  steadily  strengthened. 

Congress  not  only  abolished  the  old  common  law  de- 
fense of  the  carelessness  of  a  fellow-servant  in  cases  arising 
from  injuries  sustained  in  interstate  commerce,  but  it  also 
took  away  the  plea  of  assumption  of  risk  by  the  injured 
employee  where  it  could  be  shown  that  the  injury  was 
caused  through  the  failure  of  the  railroad  to  provide  the 
safety  appliances  prescribed  by  law.  Congress  also  put  a 
stop  to  word  juggling  by  specifically  declaring  that  the 
Safety  Appliance  Act  relates  to  "  locomotives,  tenders, 
cars,  and  similar  vehicles. "  To  the  quibbling  as  to 
whether  an  empty  car  on  a  siding  is  really  embraced  in 
the  provisions  of  the  act,  Congress  made  it  plain  that 
everything  on  wheels,  which  is  used  on  any  railroad 
engaged  hi  interstate  commerce,  is  included.  Mr.  Mose- 
ley's  active  participation  in  that  legislative  work  is  dis- 
closed by  two  letters  which  he  received  after  the  passage 
of  a  most  important  amendatory  act  in  1903,  one  from  a 
member  of  the  Senate  and  the  other  from  a  member  of 
the  House  committee  on  interstate  and  foreign  com- 
merce :  — 


94  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

WASHINGTON,  D.C., 
March  27,  1903. 

HON.  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  Secretary, 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  Washington,  D.G. 

DEAR  SIR  : 

I  have  been  intending  to  say  ever  since  the  passage  of 
the  act  to  promote  the  safety  of  employees  and  travelers 
on  railroads  etc.,  at  the  recent  session  of  Congress,  that 
I  feel  much  indebted  to  you  for  your  earnest  and  helpful 
support.  I  refer  not  only  to  your  general  support  of  the 
general  proposition,  but  the  help  you  rendered  in  perfect- 
ing the  measure.  The  amendments  that  were  adopted 
upon  your  suggestions,  especially  those  adopted  while  the 
bill  was  in  conference,  did  much  to  make  the  measure 
more  satisfactory  and  effective  than  it  otherwise  would 
have  been.  All  who  were  interested  in  this  legislation 
should  indeed  feel  very  grateful  to  you  for  your  efficient 
friendship  in  the  matter. 

Very  truly  yours, 

J.  B.  FORAKER. 

WASHINGTON,  D.C., 
March  5,  1903. 

HON.  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  Secretary, 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 

MY  DEAR  SIR: 

The  act  to  amend  an  act  entitled  "An  act  to  promote 
the  safety  of  employees  and  travelers  upon  railways,  by 
compelling  common  carriers  engaged  in  interstate  com- 
merce to  equip  their  cars  with  automatic  couplers  and 
continuous  brakes  and  their  locomotives  with  driving- 
wheel  brakes,  and  for  other  purposes,"  being  now  a  law, 
it  is  to  be  hoped  that  such  an  improvement  in  railway 
appliances  and  the  use  thereof  will  follow  that  injuries  to 
trainmen  will  be  much  less  frequent,  and  will  steadily 
diminish  in  number  and  severity. 

It  is  only  just  that  due  acknowledgment  should  be 
made  to  you  for  the  important  services  you  have  rendered, 
and  without  which  this  amendment  would  probably  have 
failed  of  passage  at  the  recent  session  of  Congress.  When 


BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND  WIDOWS      95 

counsels  were  distracted  and  the  measure  apparently  dead, 
your  intercession  led  to  such  a  bringing  together  of  po- 
tential forces  that  consideration  and  action  were  had. 
And  in  the  incomplete  form  in  which  the  measure  had 
passed  both  Houses,  with  respect  to  its  provision  relating 
to  automatic  couplers,  it  was  solely  responsive  to  your 
suggestions  and  representations  that  further  amendment 
was  recommended  by  both  Houses  of  Congress. 

Doubtless  a  grateful  appreciation  by  those  interested 
directly  will  be  manifested,  and  I  trust  you  will  never 
weary  in  earnest  labor  in  the  cause  of  humanity,  which 
you  have  thus  far  served  so  well. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 
IRVING  P.  WANGER. 

Mr.  Moseley's  able  and  vigorous  championship  of  the 
various  laws  with  which  he  had  to  do,  attracted  the 
favorable  attention  of  judges  and  lawyers  throughout 
the  country,  and  a  confidential  correspondence  sprang 
up  between  him  and  them.  As  an  example  of  the  confi- 
dence reposed  in  him  by  distinguished  correspondents, 
the  following  remarkably  frank  letter  from  an  eminent 
Federal  judge  will  serve  :  — 

MY  DEAR  MR.  MOSELEY: 

Accept  my  sincere  thanks  for  copies  of  the  brief  for  the 
plaintiff  in  error  in  the  Johnson  case.  I  was  favored  with 
a  copy  of  the  opinion  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals  in  the 
case  soon  after  it  was  filed,  and  was  on  the  point  of  writing 
a  review  of  it,  when  I  learned  the  case  had  been  taken  to 
the  Supreme  Court. 

The  writer  of  the  opinion  in  the  Court  of  Appeals  has 
an  acute  and  ready,  but  an  extremely  narrow  mind  —  as 
narrow  as  the  neck  of  a  vinegar  cruet.  To  him  the  little 
things  of  the  law  seem  great  and  the  great  things  little. 
He  argues  a  question  of  the  construction  of  a  great  reme- 
dial statute  enacted  to  preserve  human  life  as  though  it 
was  a  plea  in  abatement  or  a  special  demurrer  under  the 


96  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

old  system  of  special  pleading.  He  delights  in  technical- 
ities, subtleties,  refinements  and  microscopic  distinctions. 
If  his  construction  of  the  statute  is  right,  the  last  state  of 
the  employees  and  the  public  is  worse  than  the  first. 

It  is  distressing  to  see  such  a  judicial  perversion  of  a 
beneficent  statute. 

Thanking  you  again  for  your  courtesy,  I  am 

Very  truly, 


Mr.  Moseley's  close  observation  of  legal  points  is  illus- 
trated by  this  letter  which  he  wrote  to  a  Federal  judge :  — 

November  19,  1906. 

DEAR  JUDGE  : 

Your  opinion  and  order  have  been  received,  and  permit 
me  to  say  that  I  am  much  pleased  with  the  views  you  have 
expressed,  because  I  am  sure  every  fact  will  be  brought  out 
at  the  trial.  .  .  . 

It  seems  but  proper  to  call  your  attention  to  your  state- 
ment that  the  locomotive  in  the  Johnson  case  was  a 
switch  engine.  That  does  not  appear  to  be  the  fact. 
The  locomotive  was  a  freight  engine  running  between 
Terrace  and  Ogden,  two  points  in  Utah,  and  was  being 
used  at  the  time  of  the  accident  in  hauling  an  interstate 
freight  train  running  between  San  Francisco,  California, 
and  Ogden,  Utah.  It  had  been  cut  off  from  its  train  at 
Promontory  for  the  special  purpose  of  doing  the  particular 
work  in  which  Johnson  was  injured,  and  had  gone  down 
to  hook  on  to  the  dining  car.  It  was  an  engine  which  was 
not  presumed  to  have  gone  out  of  the  state,  and  was  en- 
gaged temporarily  in  switching  service  because  there  is 
no  switching  engine  at  Promontory,  as  there  is  not  work 
enough  there  for  one.  Every  other  statement  made  by 
you  in  regard  to  the  case,  I  am  confident  is  correct.  .  .  . 

I  may  also  call  your  attention  to  the  last  paragraph  on 
the  next  to  the  last  page  of  your  opinion,  where  it  is  stated 
that  "lack  of  guilty  knowledge  will  avail  as  a  defense." 
Is  this  not  a  typewriter's  error  ?  Should  it  not  read  "not 
avail  as  a  defense?"  You  will  also  find  a  typewriter's 


BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND  WIDOWS      97 

error  near  the  bottom  of  page  5,  where  your  opinion  is 
spoken  of  as  a  " petition7'  instead  of  an  opinion. 
With  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

An  assistant  counsel  of  a  great  railway  system  having 
said,  while  defending  a  prosecution  in  Chicago  which  had 
been  brought  against  his  company,  that  a  certain  other 
company  had  escaped  prosecution  through  "  graft,"  he 
pointed  his  cynical  remark  in  Mr.-  Moseley's  direction. 
Mr.  Moseley,  who  kept  on  friendly  terms  throughout  his 
fights  with  many  of  the  leading  railway  attorneys,  wrote 
to  the  general  counsel  of  the  road  this  characteristic 
rejoinder :  — 

I  am  writing  you  in  a  personal  way  to  express  my  in- 
dignation and  resentment  at  the  statement  made  by  your 
Mr.  Blank.  .  .  . 

From  one  point  of  view  it  excites  my  risibility  to  think 
that  I  should  be  placed  in  the  same  category  with  grafters 
in  a  field  of  endeavor  where  the  picking  is  so  slim ;  but 
from  a  practical  viewpoint,  in  consideration  of  my  duty 
as  a  public  official  and  of  my  past  record,  Mr.  Blank's 
insinuation  is  nothing  short  of  contemptible,  and  I  must 
express  my  resentment  in  the  most  emphatic  manner  at 
my  command.  I  will  not  stand  such  treatment,  and  I 
really  believe  that  if  Mr.  Blank  was  within  reaching  dis- 
tance I  might  be  tempted  to  use  something  stronger  than 
words  in  dealing  with  him.  I  am  inclined  to  think  that 
he  may  thank  God  that  there  is  a  reasonable  amount  of 
real  estate  between  Washington  and  Chicago. 

Of  course,  I  am  at  the  bottom  of  these  prosecutions, 
but  only  as  the  official  upon  whom  the  enforcement  of  the 
law  devolves,  and  I  have  the  audacity  to  believe  that  when 
I  place  my  hands  to  the  plow,  I  shall  strike  a  furrow  before 
leaving  it ;  when  I  accept  a  duty  I  shall  carry  it  through 
to  the  letter.  There  has  been  no  " persecution"  of  your 
company,  as  Mr.  Blank  seems  to  believe.  All  we  want 
is  to  have  the  law  observed. 


98  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

In  these  cases  which  we  brought  to  the  attention  of  the 
court,  there  was  none  which  could  not  have  been  avoided 
by  the  expenditure  of  a  few  cents  for  material  and  a  few 
moments  of  time  by  a  car  repairer ;  whereas  the  man  who 
was  compelled  to  go  between  the  cars  by  reason  of  the 
defective  equipment  might  have  been  killed,  thus  entailing 
a  loss  of  several  thousand  dollars  upon  the  company.  .  .  . 

That  the  suits  brought  by  us  have  been  properly  in- 
stituted is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  we  have  never  lost 
a  case,  and  with  the  present  temper  of  the  Executive  and  of 
Congress,  if  any  case  is  lost  by  fault  of  the  law,  or  through 
any  weakness  or  deficiency  in  the  statute,  I  assure  you 
that  Congress  will  take  speedy  action  to  still  further 
strengthen  the  law  and  emphasize  its  intent  in  enact- 
ing it. 

With  kind  personal  regards,  I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

For  twenty-five  years  Mr.  Moseley  attended  the  read- 
ing of  the  opinions  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He  knew  the 
opinions  thoroughly  and  could  instantly  recall  them  for 
use  in  an  emergency.  He  was  better  informed  on  ques- 
tions involving  the  conflict  between  state  and  Federal 
authority  than  nine  tenths  of  the  practicing  lawyers  of 
the  country.  As  a  notable  example  of  this  he  issued  a 
pamphlet  on  Federal  power,  and  when  more  than  a  year 
afterward  Secretary  Knox,  one  of  the  foremost  constitu- 
tional lawyers,  delivered  an  address  on  the  same  subject, 
it  was  astonishing  to  note  the  similarity  of  the  lines  of 
thought  in  which  Mr.  Moseley  had  anticipated  that 
leader  of  the  bar. 

His  many  legal  contests  gave  him  an  extraordinary 
acquaintance  with  the  temper  and  tendencies  of  the 
members  of  the  Federal  courts  all  over  the  Union,  and  he 


BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND  WIDOWS      99 

carried  in  his  mind  a  classification  of  the  judges  in  accord- 
ance with  the  mental  bias  their  decisions  had  disclosed. 
Sometimes  he  maneuvered  most  skilfully  to  avoid  putting 
a  disputed  point  of  law  to  the  test  in  courts  where  he 
thought  the  tone  was  unprogressive.  His  deep  interest 
in  appointments  to  the  bench  is  evidenced  by  the  intro- 
ductory part  of  a  letter  which  he  addressed  to  Mr.  Taft 
in  the  opening  year  of  the  latter 's  Presidency :  — 

Before  your  election  you  were  good  enough  to  tell  me 
that  when  you  were  President  I  might  express  to  you  my 
views  concerning  appointments  to  the  federal  bench. 
This  is  my  justification  for  addressing  you  relative  to  the 
appointment  of  a  suitable  person  to  fill  the  vacancy  on 
the  Supreme  Court  bench  occasioned  by  the  death  of 
Justice  Peckham. 

I  wish  it  to  be  understood  that  I  have  no  predilection 
in  favor  of  any  particular  person  for  this  important  ap- 
pointment, my  only  desire  being  to  feel  assured  that  who- 
ever is  appointed  will  not  be  reactionary  in  his  views  but 
may  be  depended  upon  at  least  to  hold  a  sympathetic 
attitude  towards  the  admirable  sentiments  expressed 
by  you  recently  in  your  Chicago  address. 

One  of  the  hardest  and  most  interesting  legal  fights  in 
which  Mr.  Moseley  engaged  was  in  the  Schlemmer  case. 
A  steam  shovel  was  in  transit  from  a  point  in  the  state 
of  New  York  to  a  point  in  the  state  of  Pennsylvania, 
and  was  equipped  with  the  'old  link-and-pin  coupler, 
contrary  to  the  Federal  law.  To  couple  it  to  a  caboose 
at  a  station  in  Pennsylvania  one  night,  Schlemmer  was 
obliged  to  go  between  the  two  cars,  stoop  down,  lamp  in 
hand,  and  guide  a  long  iron  bar,  weighing  about  eighty 
pounds,  into  the  slot  of  the  caboose  coupler.  Struggling 
in  that  cramped  position  under  the  burden  of  the  heavy 


100  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

bar,  the  poor  fellow  missed  his  aim  as  the  cars  came  to- 
gether, and  his  head  was  crushed. 

His  widow  sued  the  railroad  company,  and  the  jury 
gave  her  a  verdict  of  $10,000,  which  the  judge  set  aside 
on  motion  of  the  railroad  counsel.  The  company  con- 
tended that  there  was  contributory  negligence  on  the 
part  of  the  dead  man,  and  that  the  conductor  who  was 
standing  by  at  the  time  had  shouted  to  him  to  look  out 
for  his  head.  The  widow  appealed  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania,  and  there  again  she  lost,  that 
court  saying  in  its  decision :  — 

"It  is  the  settled  law  of  Pennsylvania  that  any  negli- 
gence of  a  party  injured,  which  contributed  to  his  injury, 
bars  his  recovery  of  damages  without  regard  to  the  neg- 
ligence either  greater  or  less  than  his  own,  of  the  other 
party.  The  present  is  a  clear  case  of  contributory  neg- 
ligence within  this  rule." 

A  member  of  the  brotherhood  to  which  Schlemmer  had 
belonged  brought  the  sad  case  to  Mr.  Moseley's  atten- 
tion. He  instantly  took  up  the  widow's  cause,  and  for 
five  years  it  never  was  out  of  his  thoughts.  In  a  letter 
acknowledging  the  receipt  of  the  court  record  of  the  case, 
he  wrote  on  April  1,  1905  :  — 

It  made  my  blood  boil  when  I  read  it.  We  are  working 
on  it  now  and  are  having  the  help  of  some  of  the  people 
in  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  preparation  of  our  prayer 
for  a  writ  of  error.  I  am  making  a  careful  study  of  the 
case.  I  have  concluded  to  go  myself  to  Justice  Brown  in 
regard  to  the  writ  of  error.  I  am  a  member  of  the  court, 
and  personally  I  am  a  warm  friend  of  his,  and  I  can  per- 
haps talk  with  him  better  than  any  one  else  here. 


BATTLING  FOR  CRIPPLES  AND   yHBcWS     101 

Mr.  Moseley  made  this  a  personal  matter.  He  did 
not  act  as  an  official  of  the  government,  but  out  of  sym- 
pathy with  the  widow  and  her  fatherless  children,  one  of 
whom  he  understood  was  blind.  Running  parallel  with 
his  sympathy  was  the  indignation  that  had  made  "his 
blood  boil"  over  the  ruling  handed  down  by  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Pennsylvania,  "with  its  accustomed  disregard 
of  humanity,"  as  he  said. 

He  went  to  Justice  Brown  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States  and  obtained  a  writ  of  error,  and  then,  on 
his  own  account,  engaged  counsel.  A  prominent  rail- 
road attorney  consented  out  of  friendship  for  him  to  make 
the  closing  argument,  and  Mr.  Moseley  selected  a  young 
man  in  his  own  office  to  present  the  case.  He  went  into 
the  preparation  of  the  case  with  even  more  than  his 
usual  thoroughness,  and  often  in  discussing  it  with  his 
associates,  he  knelt  on  the  floor  in  the  crouching  posture 
that  Schlemmer  was  compelled  to  assume  between  the 
cars,  trying  thereby  to  make  clear  the  manner  in  which 
the  unfortunate  trainman  came  to  his  death. 

When  two  years  had  passed  since  he  entered  upon  the 
case,  the  matter  was  heard  by  the  Supreme  Court,  and 
in  another  month  Justice  Holmes  rendered  a  majority 
decision,  which  had  been  reached  by  a  vote  of  5  to  4, 
reversing  the  Pennsylvania  court  and  ordering  a  new 
trial.  At  the  second  trial  the  widow  again  won  a  $10,000 
verdict,  but  again  the  judge  set  it  aside;  again  she  ap- 
pealed to  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania;  again 
that  court  non-suited  her,  and  again  Mr.  Moseley  aided 
to  bring  her  case  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 


102  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

United  States.  Her  crowning  misfortune  was  his  illness 
at  the  time  of  this  second  hearing  before  the  highest 
court,  and  when  at  last  the  final  decision  against  her 
was  rendered  on  May  15,  1911,  her  champion  lay  in  his 
grave. 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  EMPLOYERS'  LIABILITY  ACT 

WHILE  Mr.  Moseley  was  doing  what  he  could  in  the 
movement  to  check  the  loss  of  life  and  limb  among  rail- 
road workmen,  he  found  that  the  money  cost  of  all  this 
human  waste  chiefly  fell  upon  cripples  and  widows  and 
orphans.  A  frightful  yearly  tol  was  not  only  collected 
from  them  in  pain  and  tears,  but  in  dollars  and  cents 
as  well.  The  vast  interstate  traffic  of  the  country, 
the  richest  commerce  in  the  world,  ground  up  men  by 
the  thousands,  by  the  tens  of  thousands  every  year,  and 
paid  next  to  nothing  for  their  arms  and  legs  and  lives. 
The  larger  part  of  this  enormous  financial  burden  was 
thrust  upon  physical  wrecks  and  helpless  women  and 
children. 

While  a  member  of  the  Massachusetts  Legislature,  Mr. 
Moseley  interested  himself  in  the  question  of  an  Employ- 
ers' Liability  Act,  and  he  supported  a  bill  on  that  sub- 
ject, which,  as  already  stated,  had  been  introduced  by  a 
fellow-member,  Mr.  Philip  J.  Doherty,  whose  recent  able 
work  on  Federal  Employers'  Liability  Law  has  taken  high 
rank  in  contemporary  legal  literature.  Mr.  Moseley's 
experience  in  defending  the  Safety  Appliance  Act  hi  the 
courts  had  deepened  his  conviction  that  the  old  common 
law  dogmas,  known  as  the  fellow-servant  and  assumption 
of  risk  rules,  did  not  rightfully  apply  to  modern  condi- 

103 


104  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

tions  and  were  cruelly  unjust  to  wage  earners,  partic- 
ularly in  the  inevitably  hazardous  employment  of  railroad 
service.  The  terms  in  themselves  have  a  distinctly 
anachronistic  sound,  echoes  of  an  age  when  all  employees 
were  indeed  servants,  a  class  apart,  and  all  employers 
were  masters. 

It  chanced  that  when  the  first  decade  of  the  twentieth 
century  closed,  the  great  republic  of  the  United  States, 
the  great  democracy  of  America,  was  almost  the  only 
progressive  nation  that  still  clung  to  those  harsh  and 
unsocial  doctrines,  twin  relics,  they  might  be  termed,  of 
a  medieval  industrial  system.  In  several  states  there 
had  been  an  effort  to  mitigate  their  rigors,  but  in  the 
Federal  courts  they  continued  to  operate  in  their  full 
severity. 

Railroad  workmen  were  among  the  chief  victims  of 
those  judicial  fetiches.  Chief  Justice  Shaw  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts Supreme  Court  having  expanded  the  rule  of 
fellow-servant  to  cover  railroad  employment  in  the  in- 
fancy of  the ,  railroad,  his  decision  was  adopted  through- 
out the  courts  of  the  country.  A  train  conductor  and  a 
laborer  engaged  in  graveling  the  track,  a  brakeman  and 
a  car  inspector,  an  engineer  on  one  train  and  the  con- 
ductor on  another  train,  an  engineer  and  a  yard  clerk,  a 
trainman  and  a  telegraph  operator  were  held  to  be  fellow- 
servants,  and  a  railroad  company,  therefore,  was  not 
liable  for  the  injury  of  one  caused  by  the  negligence  of 
the  other. 

If,  moreover,  an  employee  were  injured  through  the 
negligence  of  his  employer  to  provide  safe  conditions  of 


THE  EMPLOYERS'   LIABILITY  ACT  105 

employment  and  the  employee  had  knowledge  of  the 
defective  equipment,  the  employer  was  not  liable  for 
damages ;  the  employee  was  held  to  have  assumed  the 
risk.  He  was  presumably  at  liberty  to  refuse  to  incur 
the  danger  of  injury,  although  his  refusal  probably  would 
have  cost  him  his  employment  and  might  have  exposed 
his  family  to  want. 

In  many  instances  railroads  did  not  trust  to  an  implied 
contract,  but  required  applicants  for  employment  to  sign 
sinister  printed  forms,  in  which  they  contracted  to  release 
the  companies  from  all  manner  of  responsibility.  In  one 
of  those  forms  submitted  to  a  committee  of  Congress,  the 
employees  were  required  to  agree  to  assume  the  risk  of 
every  conceivable  injury.  All  the  ghastly  perils  were 
grimly  set  forth  in  fine  type,  and  the  poor  seeker  for  work 
was  compelled  to  sign  away  life  and  limb  before  receiving 
employment.  An  express  company  not  only  exacted  a 
promise  in  writing  that  the  employee  would  never  sue 
for  damages,  but  also  a  shocking  pledge  that  if  he  should 
be  killed  and  his  widow  or  children  or  any  other  heir 
should  bring  suit,  the  company  should  collect  from  his 
estate  the  money  it  spent  in  defending  itself  against  his 
heirs. 

If  an  injured  employee  could  not  be  prevented  from 
recovering  damages  on  the  ground  that  his  injury  was  due 
to  the  negligence  of  a  fellow-servant  or  was  in  conse- 
quence of  a  risk  which  he  voluntarily  assumed,  he  might 
still  be  defeated  by  the  contention  that  there  was  some 
contributory  negligence,  however  slight,  on  his  own 
part.  This  last  completed  the  trinity  of  legal  obstacles 


106  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

that  confronted  the  crippled  railway  workman  in  court, 
or  barred  the  way  to  the  widows  and  orphans  of  the 
hundreds  of  employees  slain  on  the  rail  every  year.  It 
was  said  in  a  Senate  debate  that  in  1897  the  railroad 
workers  collected  damages  for  less  than  13  per  cent  of 
the  accidents  that  befell  them. 

Thus  trainmen  could  not  look  to  their  employers  to 
protect  their  families  in  event  of  injury  or  death,  and  the 
big  insurance  companies  would  not  insure  them,  except 
at  a  rate  which  few  of  them  could  afford  to  pay.  Indeed, 
most  of  the  companies  would  not  accept  them  at  any 
rate,  while  other  companies  issued  endowment  policies 
for  switchmen,  for  instance,  at  a  premium  based  on  a 
twenty-year  advance  in  age;  if  only  twenty-five  years 
old,  the  switchman  must  pay  as  much  as  a  man  of  forty- 
five.  The  insurance  actuaries  thus  calculated  that  when 
a  man  became  a  switchman,  he  thereby  cut  twenty  years 
off  his  reasonable  expectation  of  life. 

The  only  feasible  means  of  mitigating  the  severity  of 
the  situation  in  which  the  railroad  workers  found  them- 
selves was  to  establish  insurance  and  benefit  funds  of 
their  own  and  thereby  share  their  burdens.  Among 
Mr.  Moseley's  papers,  a  statement  was  found  on  this 
subject,  bearing  date  of  1908,  in  which  the  enormous 
payments  of  the  employees  out  of  their  wages  for  the 
relief  of  their  unfortunate  fellows  is  set  forth  in  the 
following  figures :  — 

Since  its  organization,  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive 
Engineers  has  paid  out  in  benefits  for  deceased  and  dis- 
abled members  $17,700,228.71,  and  in  the  twelve  months 


THE   EMPLOYERS'   LIABILITY  ACT  107 

ending  November  1,  1907,  its  beneficiary  payments 
amounted  to  $1,411,500.05. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Trainmen  has  paid  out  a 
total  of  $12,006,609.83,  and  from  January  1,  to  November 
1,  1907,  its  payments  amounted  to  $1,508,185.37. 

The  Order  of  Railway  Conductors  has  paid  out  $9,540,- 

000,  and  in  the  period  from  January  1  to  November  1, 
1907,  its  payments  amounted  to  $723,000. 

The  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  has  paid  out 
a  total  of  $10,549,765,  and  in  the  fiscal  year  ending  June 
30,  1907,  its  payments  amounted  to  $947,100. 

The  Switchmen's  Union,  which  is  a  comparatively 
young  and  small  organization,  has  paid  out  $820,000  in 
death  and  injury  benefits,  and  in  the  period  from  January 
1  to  November  1, 1907,  its  payments  amounted  to  $189,300. 

Here  is  a  total  of  $50,616,603.54,  which  these  organiza- 
tions have  paid  out  to  the  families  of  deceased  and  dis- 
abled members. 

This  condition  of  affairs  forced  itself  upon  Mr.  Mose- 
ley's  attention  and  sympathy  while  he  was  fighting  for 
the  Safety  Appliance  Law  and  collecting  the  statistics 
of  death  and  injuries  among  railroad  men,  and  he  began 
to  look  for  a  remedy.  Early  in  his  study  of  the  question, 
he  came  upon  the  epochal  declaration  of  Emperor  William 

1,  to  the  Reichstag  in  1881,  and  the  sentiment  expressed 
then  by  the  old  Kaiser  appealed  to  him  as  an  example  of 
noble  statesmanship :  — 

We  consider  it  our  imperial  duty  to  impress  upon  the 
Reichstag  the  necessity  of  furthering  the  welfare  of  the 
working  people.  We  should  review  with  increased  satis- 
faction the  manifold  successes  with  which  the  Lord  has 
blessed  our  reign,  could  we  carry  with  us  to  the  grave  the 
consciousness  of  having  given  our  country  an  additional 
and  lasting  assurance  of  internal  peace,  and  the  convic- 
tion that  we  have  rendered  the  needy  that  assistance  to 
which  they  are  justly  entitled.  Our  efforts  in  this  direc- 


108  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

tion  are  certain  of  the  approval  of  all  the  federated  govern- 
ments. We  confidently  rely  on  the  support  of  the  Reich- 
stag, without  distinction  of  parties.  In  order  to  realize 
these  views,  a  bill  for  the  insurance  of  workmen  against 
industrial  accidents  will  first  of  all  be  laid  before  you. 

The  first  Employers'  Liability  Act  for  railroad  em- 
ployees engaged  in  interstate  commerce  introduced  in 
Congress  was  drawn  by  Mr.  Moseley,  but,  as  he  after- 
wards said,  "If  I  had  admitted  it,  my  head  would  have 
come  off  instantly."  The  bill  was  introduced  by  his 
request  in  1895,  only  two  years  after  the  passage  of  the 
Safety  Appliance  Act,  merely  because  he  wished  to  see 
a  start  made  and  without  any  hope  of  having  it  taken 
up  at  that  time.  When,  however,  in  1898,  he  appeared 
before  the  industrial  commission  appointed  by  Presi- 
dent McKinley,  he  did  not  hesitate  to  avow  his  author- 
ship of  the  measure,  and  he  submitted  a  copy  of  it  to  the 
Commission.  When  at  last  President  Roosevelt  took 
his  stand  for  such  an  enactment,  Congress  passed  the 
Employers'  Liability  Law  of  1906. 

The  railroad  attorneys  promptly  assembled  to  plan  a 
campaign  against  it  in  the  courts.  To  meet  them,  Mr. 
Moseley  successfully  urged  upon  the  administration  the 
adoption  of  a  policy  of  vigorous  defense.  The  precedent 
that  he  was  able  to  cite  in  support  of  his  proposal  was  the 
legal  innovation,  for  which  he  was  responsible,  in  the 
Johnson  case.  In  the  course  of  the  able  paper  he  pre- 
pared and-  submitted  to  the  administration,  he  said  : — 

This  law  is  the  most  important  piece  of  legislation  affect- 
ing the  just  rights  of  labor  that  has  been  enacted  in  many 


THE  EMPLOYERS'   LIABILITY  ACT  109 

years;  indeed,  it  is  probably  the  most  fundamental  and 
far-reaching  statute  in  the  interest  of  the  wage  worker 
that  has  ever  been  enacted  by  the  national  government. 
It  virtually  affects  the  economic  and  social  well-being  of  a 
large  and  intelligent  section  of  our  laboring  population, 
and  they  are  naturally  interested  in  the  preservation  of 
its  integrity.  It  is  a  matter  which  depends  largely  upon 
the  learning  and  ability  with  which  the  points  involved 
are  presented  to  the  courts  for  adjudication,  and  when  it 
is  considered  that  the  very  highest  legal  talent  of  the 
country  is  enlisted  on  the  side  of  the  railroads,  the  disad- 
vantage at  which  the  laborer's  side  of  the  case  is  placed 
can  be  readily  seen. 

The  first  instance,  as  the  writer  believes,  in  which  the 
government  intervened  in  a  private  suit  to  maintain  the 
integrity  of  a  law  passed  by  Congress  was  the  case  of 
Johnson  v.  the  Southern  Pacific  Company.  .  .  .  No  law 
really  has  its  full  benefit  until  it  is  passed  upon  by  the 
highest  court  in  the  land,  and  in  reaching  that  court  it  is 
important  that  every  point  which  would  make  for  the 
integrity  of  the  law  should  be  saved.  It  is  therefore 
respectfully  suggested  that  United  States  district  at- 
torneys be  directed  to  inform  the  department  of  justice 
of  any  cases  that  may  arise  in  their  districts  where  the 
Employers'  Liability  Law  is  involved,  and  keep  the  de- 
partment informed  of  the  progress  of  any  of  these  suits,  so 
that  the  government  may  protect  the  law  as  far  as  it  may 
properly  do  so. 

It  is  also  respectfully  suggested  that  a  general  brief  be 
prepared  with  the  utmost  care,  for  use  as  far  as  applicable 
in  any  case  that  may  arise  under  this  law.  It  is  in  no  way 
urged  that  the  government  should  go  farther  than  to  pro- 
tect the  law  and  the  evident  intent  of  Congress  in  passing 
it,  and  no  question  of  fact  surrounding  a  particular  case 
should  engage  the  attention  of  the  law  officials  of  the 
government. 

It  may  be  a  new  theory,  but  is  it  not  well  within  the 
province  of  the  attorney-general  of  the  United  States, 
when  the  constitutionality  of  any  act  passed  by  Congress 
is  called  in  question,  to  use  the  resources  of  the  govern- 
ment to  the  fullest  extent  in  his  power  to  protect  the  in- 


110  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

tegrity  of  that  act,  particularly  when,  as  in  this  case,  the 
measure  is  one  which  is  designed  to  protect  the  just  rights 
of  a  vast  body  of  our  country's  working  citizens,  and  to 
relieve  them  from  the  disabilities  entailed  upon  them  by 
the  failure  of  powerful  railroad  corporations  to  provide 
suitable  appliances  and  facilities  for  the  protection  of  the 
lives  and  limbs  of  their  employees  ? 

Mr.  Moseley  rejoiced  in  soon  making  the  announce- 
ment to  a  colaborer  in  the  movement  for  the  law,  that 
the  administration  had  determined  to  act,  saying :  — 

The  administration  has  decided  to  stand  behind  the 
Employers'  Liability  Law,  and  the  government  will  in- 
tervene in  any  case  that  may  be  brought  up  for  the  pur- 
pose of  defending  the  constitutionality  of  the  law.  This 
was  decided  at  a  Cabinet  meeting  a  few  days  ago,  and 
the  attorney-general  issued  a  statement,  which  was  given 
to  the  press,  in  regard  to  the  matter.  I  inclose  a  copy  of 
this  statement  herewith. 

I  regard  this  action  as  one  of  the  most  important  events 
in  the  interest  of  labor  that  has  ever  occurred.  Were 
railway  employees,  who  seek  to  obtain  damages  for  in- 
juries received,  left  to  their  own  resources  there  is  no 
question  that  the  benefits  which  this  law  seeks  to  confer 
upon  them  would  be  neutralized  or  entirely  destroyed  by 
the  action  of  the  courts. 

The  railroad  companies  have  the  strongest  array  of  legal 
talent  in  the  country,  and  this  talent  will  all  be  directed 
toward  defeating  the  ends  of  any  such  law  as  this.  No 
private  individual  can  hope  to  cope  with  such  a  power; 
it  will  be  impossible  for  any  railway  employee,  who  in- 
vokes the  aid  of  this  law,  to  employ  attorneys  who  can 
successfully  meet  the  arguments  of  counsel  for  the  railroad 
companies.  But  with  the  resources  of  the  department  of 
justice  placed  at  his  command,  in  order  to  protect  the 
integrity  of  the  law,  the  railway  employee  is  placed  on  a 
plane  of  practical  equality  with  the  railway  company, 
and  he  is  thus  insured  a  square  deal. 


THE  EMPLOYERS'   LIABILITY  ACT  111 

Mr.  Moseley  followed  up  the  subject  with  all  his  energy 
and  enthusiasm,  and  as  the  judicial  contest  was  drawing 
to  a  close,  he  reported  his  feelings  in  this  note  to  a  friend  :  — 

I  take  pleasure  in  sending  you  two  opinions  sustaining 
the  constitutionality  of  the  Employers'  Liability  Law. 
If  we  can  only  win  in  the  Supreme  Court  on  April  8,  when 
the  case  is  to  be  heard  there,  it  will  be  one  of  the  greatest 
boons  that  the  railroad  men  could  have.  We  are  then 
out  of  the  woods  with  this  law  which  means  so  much  to 
railroad  employees,  their  widows  and  orphans.  I  am  so 
interested  in  it  I  hardly  sleep  nights,  waiting  for  the  out- 
come of  the  hearing  in  the  Supreme  Court. 

In  another  letter  to  an  editor  he  disclosed  this  char- 
acteristic bit  of  strategy :  — 

Your  treatment  of  the  Employers'  Liability  Law  is 
grand.  The  members  of  the  Supreme  Court  should  see 
it.  Can  you  not  in  some  way  get  this  article  into  their 
hands  ?  I  do  not  know  that  there  is  any  impropriety  in 
your  sending  it  to  them,  but  it  won't  do,  of  course,  for  me 
to  be  connected  with  it  in  the  slightest  degree. 

I  send  you  a  list  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
You  can  send  the  magazine  without  marking  the  article, 
and  certainly  some  of  them  will  find  it  and  read  it.  Your 
first  editorial  is  also  splendid  —  "The  Death  Roll  of 
Industry."  Do  send  an  unmarked  copy  to  them  all.  If 
you  have  them  to  spare,  it  would  be  good  to  send  to  the 
circuit  judges. 

The  Supreme  Court  disappointed  his  eager  hopes  in 
its  decision  handed  down  on  January  6,  1908.  By  the 
familiar  vote  of  5  to  4,  a  majority  of  the  justices  held 
that  the  act  was  invalid  because  it  did  not  in  express 
terms  limit  its  effect  to  railroad  employees  actually 
engaged  in  interstate  commerce  at  the  time  of  the  in- 
jury ;  but  the  court  was  so  divided  that  no  less  than  five 


112  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

different  opinions  were  rendered.  President  Roosevelt 
insisting  upon  a  new  act,  Congress  promptly  passed,  on 
April  22,  1908,  another  Employers'  Liability  Law,  which 
has  now  been  unanimously  sustained  by  the  Supreme 
Court. 

When  Mr.  Franklin  K.  Lane,  then  a  member  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  was  invited  to  ad- 
dress the  National  Civic  Federation  on  the  subject  of  this 
law,  he  replied  :  — 

I  feel  very  much  honored  at  this  invitation,  but  I  want 
to  make  a  suggestion  to  you,  both  in  the  interest  of  the 
law  and  in  the  interest  of  your  meeting,  viz.  that  you 
invite  Hon.  E.  A.  Moseley,  Secretary  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  to  make  this  address.  As  you 
probably  know,  Moseley  is  the  father  of  this  law  and  is 
in  more  intimate  touch  with  railroad  employees  than  any 
other  man  in  the  country,  in  all  probability.  I  think  the 
honor  is  due  him  to  appear  before  your  body  on  behalf 
of  this  measure  because  of  the  work  he  has  done. 

Mr.  Moseley,  being  unable  to  address  the  Federation, 
made  some  significant  observations  in  his  letter  of 
regret :  — 

The  national  law  has  set  a  pace,  and  our  efforts  should 
in  no  wise  be  relaxed  until  this  doctrine  is  established  in 
every  state  of  the  Union.  The  rules  relating  to  fellow 
servants  and  assumption  of  risk,  made  by  the  courts, 
should  be  done  away  with,  and  the  question  of  contribu- 
tory negligence,  which  is  a  matter  of  fact,  should  be  left 
to  the  jury. 

The  national  law,  following  the  rule  of  admiralty,  allows 
the  jury  to  determine  the  extent  to  which  the  employer 
or  employee  is  liable,  and  the  award  shall  be  rendered 
accordingly.  This,  it  is  hoped,  will  prove  workable.  If 
an  enterprise  is  obviously  dangerous,  the  capital  embarked 


THE  EMPLOYERS'   LIABILITY  ACT  113 

therein  should  not  be  exempt  from  such  losses  as  arise 
from  the  obviously  dangerous  character  of  the  business. 
The  crowding  upon  the  laboring  element  of  all  the  burden 
of  industrial  accidents  cannot  be  justified  upon  any  ground 
of  justice  or  public  policy.  No  two  of  the  apologists  for 
the  present  rules  of  law,  denying  to  workmen  the  right  to 
recover,  can  agree  upon  the  ground  or  basis  for  such  rules. 
They  are  entirely  out  of  harmony  with  the  humane  spirit 
of  the  present  age. 

The  great  majority  of  people  in  this  country  are  wage 
earners.  The  law's  delays  and  the  fact  that  they  and 
their  dependents  bear  the  burdens  of  these  industrial 
accidents  is  awakening  a  spirit  of  dissatisfaction  which 
the  statesmen  of  our  country  may  well  heed. 

In  the  progress  of  the  long  movement  for  this  law, 
which  Mr.  Moseley  started  in  1895,  he  was  carried  by  his 
own  experience  and  the  example  of  some  great  foreign 
nations  to  a  still  more  advanced  position.  Even  before 
the  first  Employers'  Liability  Act  was  passed,  he  had  be- 
come an  earnest  advocate  of  a  Federal  compensation  act 
for  injured  employees  engaged  in  interstate  commerce. 
Mr.  Taft  having  consulted  with  him  early  in  his  cam- 
paign for  President  in  1908,  and  having  invited  his  coun- 
sel on  the  general  subject  of  legislation  in  behalf  of  rail- 
road labor,  Mr.  Moseley  wrote  him  the  following  letter 
outlining  a  workman's  compensation  law :  — 

September  29,  1908. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  TAFT: 

One  of  the  most  important  and  far-reaching  questions 
affecting  the  rights  and  interests  of  labor  is  that  of  work- 
ingmen's  compensation.  President  Roosevelt  has  taken 
an  advanced  stand  on  this  question,  and  the  law  passed 
by  Congress  at  its  last  session  granting  compensation  to 
government  employees  in  case  of  injury  marks  a  long  step 
in  advance. 


114  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

It  seems  to  the  writer  that  this  matter  is  one  that  may 
well  be  agitated  during  the  present  campaign,  and  some 
expression  as  to  the  policy  of  the  incoming  administration 
in  dealing  with  this  question  would  undoubtedly  be  of 
interest  to  workingmen  at  this  time.  In  the  hope,  there- 
fore, that  I  may  be  able  to  suggest  some  thought  that  may 
be  of  service  to  you  along  this  line,  I  want  to  quote  the 
following  from  a  speech  delivered  by  me  to  the  Railroad 
Trainmen  at  Buffalo,  on  May  15,  1905  :  — 

"It  should  be  remembered  that  no  Safety  Appliance 
Law,  no  matter  how  perfect  or  how  well  administered,  can 
wholly  relieve  you  from  the  dangers  of  your  calling.  .  .  . 

"The  railroads  provide  certain  sums  of  money  every  year 
for  renewals  and  repairs,  as  a  necessary  detail  of  business 
administration.  A  certain  number  of  ties  and  rails  must 
be  replaced;  bridges  and  buildings  must  be  rebuilt  or 
repaired ;  engines  and  cars  are  worn  out  or  destroyed,  and 
must  be  replaced ;  fuel,  oil,  and  other  necessary  supplies 
must  be  furnished  to  keep  the  railway  equipment  in  run- 
ning condition.  All  these  are  necessary  expenses  which 
the  railroads  accept  without  question,  as  legitimate  charges 
to  be  borne  by  the  business.  But  what  about  the  nec- 
essary waste  of  human  life  and  limb  ?  Just  as  there  are 
a  certain  number  of  cars  and  engines,  rails  and  ties,  worn 
out  and  destroyed  every  year,  so  there  is  a  certain  number 
of  human  beings  worn  out  or  destroyed;  the  business 
itself  exacts  its  toll  of  human  life  and  limb  just  as  cer- 
tainly, and  in  a  ratio  that  can  be  as  accurately  predicted, 
as  is  the  case  with  the  rails  and  ties,  its  cars  and  engines. 

"Now,  I  contend  that  compensation  for  this  necessary 
waste  of  human  life  and  limb  is  just  as  legitimate  a  charge 
upon  the  revenues  of  the  railroads  as  is  compensation  for 
the  necessary  waste  of  the  inanimate,  insensate  factors  of 
equipment  —  the  ties  and  rails,  the  engines  and  cars.  If 
they  provide  money  for  one,  they  should  for  the  other, 
since  both  are  absolutely  necessary  results  of  running  the 
business.  Under  present  arrangements  the  money  for 
renewals  and  repairs  of  inanimate  equipment  is  cheerfully 
provided  and  paid  without  question,  but  the  only  money 
spent  on  the  animate,  the  human  equipment,  is  that 
spent  in  salaries  to  high-priced  legal  functionaries  to  avoid 


THE  EMPLOYERS'   LIABILITY  ACT  115 

payment  of  such  damages  for  the  death  or  injury  of  em- 
ployees as  the  courts  may  say  they  are  legally  liable  for! 

"And  when  a  man  goes  into  court  to  obtain  payment 
for  the  loss  of  an  arm  or  leg,  when  a  widow  goes  into  court 
to  obtain  compensation  for  the  death  of  her  husband  and 
the  father  of  her  children,  they  find  themselves  confronted 
by  legal  doctrines  that  operate  by  judicial  construction 
almost  wholly  in  the  interest  of  the  employer,  such  as  the 
doctrines  of  fellow  servant,  assumption  of  risk,  and  con- 
tributory negligence.  We  have  attempted  to  cover  as- 
sumption of  risk  by  section  eight  of  our  Safety  Appliance 
Law,  but  the  only  result  has  been  to  substitute  therefor 
the  plea  of  contributory  negligence.  If  a  man  is  now  in- 
jured or  killed  in  the  most  ordinary  method  of  performing 
his  duties,  the  chances  are  that  if  he  or  his  widow  goes  into 
court  to  obtain  compensation,  this  question  of  contribu- 
tory negligence  will  be  raised,  and  the  case  is  more  than 
likely  to  be  thrown  out  of  court  on  that  ground  alone. 

"Such  cases  should  never  go  into  court.  The  unfair- 
ness of  requiring  a  widow,  or  the  wreck  of  a  former  strong 
railroad  man,  to  go  into  court,  and  after  two  or  three 
years'  fighting  under  the  most  favorable  conditions  to 
obtain  a  sum  of  money,  the  greater  portion  of  which  is 
spent  in  repaying  counsel  who  have  to  fight  the  case  on  a 
contingency,  is  so  apparent  that  it  is  a  wonder  we,  calling 
ourselves  a  civilized  people,  permit  such  a  system  to 
endure  for  a  moment. 

"We  should  have  a  compensation  act,  under  which  the 
maimed  employee  or  the  widow  of  the  employee  killed, 
would  receive  a  regular  annuity,  based  upon  the  earning 
power  of  the  one  killed  or  injured.  The  public  obtains  the 
benefit  of  the  lives  and  limbs  regularly  wasted  in  handling 
the  traffic  of  the  country.  The  lives  of  the  public  are  in- 
trusted to  you,  and  our  daily  existence  is  directly  and  in- 
directly dependent  upon  the  products  hauled  by  you  at 
a  regularly  recurring  expenditure  of  life  and  limb,  and  I 
say  the  public  should  pay  for  the  necessary  cost,  and  let 
the  railroads  collect  it  for  the  benefit  of  the  killed  and 
injured.  It  is  merely  a  question  of  administration,  and 
there  should  be  no  difficulty  about  providing  the  means. 

"As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  economy  of  such  a  law  would 


116  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

be  incalculable.  In  the  first  place  it  would  furnish  the 
strongest  possible  incentive  to  the  railroads  to  provide 
all  obtainable  safeguards,  and  maintain  them  in  proper 
condition,  so  as  to  reduce  the  number  of  casualties  to  the 
lowest  possible  minimum.  Next,  it  would  do  away  with 
the  expense  of  maintaining  expensive  claim  and  legal  de- 
partments whose  main  function  is  to  combat  the  question 
of  damages.  Many  other  items  of  saving  in  present  ex- 
pense to  the  railroads  could  be  suggested,  and  I  have  no 
doubt  that  on  the  whole,  if  the  entire  burden  of  the  nec- 
essary expense  of  such  a  system  were  to  fall  upon  present 
railroad  revenues,  the  roads  would  find  themselves  largely 
the  gainers.  The  gain  to  the  public  would  also  be  great  in 
having  the  court  calendars  clear  of  all  this  litigation.  The 
feeling  of  contentment  that  would  come  with  the  knowl- 
edge that  the  men  were  having  a  square  deal  are  factors 
that  from  a  social  and  economic  standpoint  should  have 
great  weight.  .  .  ." 

Trusting  that  these  quotations  may  be  of  service  to 
you  and  that  you  may  think  the  matter  of  sufficient  im- 
portance to  deal  with  it  in  some  of  your  speeches,  I  am, 

With  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

There  is  reason  to  suspect  that  Mr.  Moseley  inspired 
if  he  did  not  actually  draw  a  compensation  bill  which 
was  introduced  at  the  following  session  of  Congress. 
Since  then  a  proposed  law  has  been  submitted  by  the 
Employers'  Liability  and  Workmen's  Compensation  Com- 
mission. It  is  pathetic  to  read  a  letter  to  a  correspondent, 
in  which  Mr.  Moseley  described  the  progress  of  the  project 
and  his  connection  with  it :  — 

As  I  telegraphed  you  to-day,  I  am  intensely  interested 
in  the  subject  you  speak  of,  that  is,  the  workingmen's 
compensation.  This  is  bound  to  come,  and  there  are  a 
number  of  railroad  officials  who  favor  it.  .  .  .  The 
President  has  for  two  years  and  a  half  had working 


THE  EMPLOYERS'  LIABILITY  ACT  117 

on  this  subject.     He  has  been  trying  to  overcome  the 
inhibitions  of  the  constitution. 

This  is  the  point  Senator has  been  more  than  in- 
terested in,  and  he,  himself,  has  endeavored  to  perfect  a 
measure  which  would  hold  water.  I  have  had  a  dozen  or 
more  interviews  with  the  senator,  where  he  has  sent  for 
me  to  tell  me  how  interested  he  is  in  the  subject  and  how 
anxious  he  was  to  get  a  bill  which  could  not  be  over- 
turned on  account  of  being  unconstitutional.  .  .  .  When 
I  can  see  that  on  the  statute  book  I  will  say,  "Oh,  Lord, 
now  let  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,"  for  I  will  then 
think  my  fife  work  accomplished. 

While  he  was  not  to  see  the  compensation  law  on  the 
statute  book,  he  saw  the  dawn  of  the  day  of  this  larger 
measure  of  justice. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR 

WHILE  safety  appliances  have  been  the  means  of  sav- 
ing thousands  of  men  from  death  and  injury,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  express  the  saving  in  figures  that  are  exact. 

In  the  first  place  the  total  number  of  men  employed 
and  exposed  has  grown  enormously  since  the  law  went 
into  full  effect  in  1900,  and  in  the  next  place  the  great 
increase  in  the  length  of  trains  and  other  radical  changes 
in  conditions  of  employment  enter  in  and  confuse  the 
statistics.  Finally,  the  Safety  Appliance  Act  affects 
only  the  coupling  of  cars  and  the  control  of  trains,  and 
does  not  touch  the  other  perils  of  railroading. 

Mr.  Moseley  watched  with  keen  solicitude  the  growth 
in  the  number  of  casualties  on  the  rail  and  had  his  share 
in  the  work  of  framing  and  forwarding  other  legislation 
for  their  prevention.  He  viewed  with  pardonable  satis- 
faction, however,  the  great  decrease  in  the  rate  of  cou- 
pling accidents. 

In  a  memorandum  which  was  prepared  on  November  30, 
1909,  it  was  shown  that  while  in  1893  one  man  was  killed 
for  349  employed  in  coupling  and  uncoupling  cars,  the 
number  so  employed  for  each  one  killed  in  1908  was  983 
—  an  increase  in  safety  from  death  amounting  to  more 
than  181  per  cent.  In  every  group  of  13  so  employed  in 

118 


SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR      119 

1893,  one  was  injured,  while  in  1908  there  was  only  one 
injury  in  each  group  of  62,  an  increase  in  safety  from 
injuries  amounting  to  376  per  cent. 

A  clearer  and  more  impressive  deduction  from  these 
figures  was  made  in  the  statement  that  if  the  accidents 
due  to  coupling  and  uncoupling  had  increased  in  the 
same  ratio  as  the  number  of  men  employed  increased 
since  1893,  there  would  have  been  486  men  killed  and 
13,724  injured  in  coupling  accidents  in  1908  instead  of  the 
actual  number  of  198  killed  and  3116  injured.  In  other 
words,  we  should  have  had  a  total  of  14,210  men  killed 
and  injured  in  coupling  at  the  old  rate  which  ruled  before 
safety  appliances  came  in,  rather  than  the  actual  total 
of  3314  in  1908. 

By  the  latest  reports  it  is  seen  that  coupling  accidents 
are  now  only  6J  per  cent  of  the  total  casualties  among 
railway  employees,  whereas  they  once  amounted  to 
44  per  cent  of  the  total.  There  were  9063  coupling  acci- 
dents in  1893,  when  there  were  only  179,636  trainmen 
employed.  In  1911  there  were  281,645  trainmen  em- 
ployed, but  only  3428  coupling  accidents  occurred  among 
that  great  number.  Those  figures  plainly  tell  the  story 
of  more  than  10,000  trainmen  saved  from  death  or  injury 
in  one  year  by  the  Safety  Appliance  Law.  Surely  no 
other  act  of  Congress,  not  even  the  organic  law  of  the  noble 
Life-saving  Service,  has  as  much  to  its  credit. 

In  this  instance,  as  always,  justice  cost  nothing.  The 
railroads  as  well  as  the  men  were  benefited  by  safety 
appliances.  The  first  cost  of  installing  the  new  system 
may  well  have  staggered  the  companies.  Once  it  was  in 


120 


EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 


operation,  however,  it  proved  to  be  a  welcome  measure 
of  economy  and  efficiency. 

The  late  E.  H.  Harriman  commended  the  law  in  a  talk 
with  Mr.  Moseley,  and  as  early  as  1901,  Mr.  F.  A.  Delano, 
general  manager  of  the  Chicago,  Burlington  and  Quincy 
Railroad,  wrote  Mr.  Moseley  that  it  would  be  extremely 
difficult,  if  not  impossible,  to  transport  the  present  busi- 
ness, if  the  link  and  draw  bar  were  still  in  use,  without 
greatly  increasing  the  number  of  engines.  Mr.  Delano 
added  that  the  number  of  trains  broken  hi  two  with  safety 


TABLE  I 

NUMBER  OF  TRAINMEN  EMPLOYED,  WITH  NUMBER  KILLED  AND 
INJURED  COUPLING  AND  UNCOUPLING  CARS  FOR  THE  YEARS 
ENDING  JUNE  30 


:YEAB 

NUMBER 
EMPLOYED 

NUMBER  KILLED 

NUMBER  INJURED 

1893  

179,636 

310 

8753 

1894  

160,033 

181 

5539 

1895  

157,731 

189 

6077 

1896  

162,876 

157 

6457 

1897  

161,398 

147 

4698 

1898  

170,708 

182 

5290 

1899  

178,851 

180 

5055 

1900  

191,198 

188 

3803 

1901  

209,043 

163 

2377  j 

1902  

225,422 

141 

2457 

1903  

253,660 

211 

3023 

1904  

253,834 

269 

3506 

1905  

265,175 

217 

3316 

1906  

285,556 

266 

3590 

1907  

317,808 

272 

4062 

1908  

281,645 

198 

3116 

SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR      121 

appliances  is  less  and  the  cost  of  general  maintenance 
lower,  while  it  would  be  extremely  dangerous  and  practi- 
cally impossible  to  operate  the  present  trains  at  prevailing 
speed  without  the  power  brakes,  and  switching  is  greatly 
expedited. 

The  Safety  Appliance  Act  made  possible  a  remarkable 
development  in  train  operation.  Automatic  couplers  were 
so  much  more  effective  than  the  link  and  pin  in  holding 
trains  together  that  trains  have  doubled  in  length  since 
the  law  went  into  force.  This  has  greatly  reduced  the 


TABLE  II 

RATIO  OP  CASUALTIES  TO  TRAINMEN  FROM  COUPLING  AND  UN- 
COUPLING FROM  TOTAL  ACCIDENTS  TO  TRAINMEN  FOR  THE  YEARS 
NAMED,  ENDING  JUNE  30 


YBAB 

KILLED   1 
PER  CENT 

INJURED 
PER  CENT 

TOTAL  KILLED 
AND  INJURED 
PER  CENT 

1893                  .... 

19.78 

4637 

4433 

1894          

17.59 

42.27 

4048 

1895     

18.59 

41.20 

39.75 

1896     

14.63 

40.52 

3888 

1897     

15.16 

34.06 

32.80 

1898     

15.95 

33.81 

32.60 

1899     

15.58 

30.34 

29.38 

1900     

13.47 

21.64 

21.04 

1901     

10.60 

14.22 

13.91 

1902     

8.42 

11.51 

11.29 

1903     

10.19 

11.77 

11.66 

1904     

12.72 

11.98 

12.03 

1905     

1090 

11  11 

11  10 

1906     

11  52 

1026 

1034 

1907     

1072 

9  97 

1001 

1908     .    . 

10  75 

8  70 

880 

122  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

cost  of  hauling.  The  average  tonnage  per  train  when  the 
law  went  into  effect  was  184;  the  average  now  is  383. 
The  link  and  pin  could  not  hold  such  a  train  together. 
Justice  pays. 

The  success  of  the  law  lay  in  its  intelligent  enforcement. 
The  Commission  having  left  this  task  to  Mr.  Moseley, 
he  developed  a  remarkably  efficient  body  of  inspectors. 

There  was  something  characteristic  in  the  standard  of 
selection  which  he  adopted.  If  the  inspectors  really 
were  to  inspect,  they  must  be  practical  railroad  men,  and 
if  they  were  members  of  the  railroad  brotherhoods,  they 
would  be  more  likely  to  feel  a  sympathy  with  the  object 
of  the  law  —  the  protection  of  their  brethren  from 
injuries.  Moreover,  they  could  inspect  effectively  only 
by  going  into  switchyards  without  let  or  hindrance  from 
officials,  and  mingling  freely  with  the  employees.  Mr. 
Moseley,  therefore,  resolved  that  he  would  not  have  the 
inspection  service  turned  into  easy  berths  for  political 
workers  or  into  a  training  school  for  high  school  novices 
certified  by  the  Civil  Service  Commission.  The  latter 
Commission  agreed  to  a  rule,  proposed  by  Mr.  Moseley, 
that  no  one  should  be  eligible  unless  he  had  a  record  of 
at  least  six  years  of  active  service  in  the  actual  operation 
of  trains  as  engineer,  foreman,  conductor,  trainman  or 
yardman. 

It  was  with  a  good  deal  of  reluctance  that  the  Civil 
Service  Commission  permitted  the  appointments  to  be 
made  without  a  civil  service  examination,  and  they  con- 
sented only  on  the  condition  that  all  the  recommendations 
and  everything  relating  to  the  selections  should  be  sub- 


SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR      123 

mitted  to  their  consideration.  When  some  one  complained 
that  few  or  no  non-union  men  were  chosen  inspectors, 
Mr.  Moseley  explained  in  the  following  letter  in  1908, 
that  since  the  eligible  class  under  the  rule  comprised  a 
total  of  285,556  trainmen,  274,402  of  whom  were  members 
of  organizations,  it  naturally  followed  that  the  inspectors 
would  be  union  men:  — 

You  will  see  that  it  is  a  practical  impossibility  to  secure 
inspectors  who  are  eligible  to  appointment  unless  they  are 
members  of  the  organization.  Personally,  I  cannot  see 
what  possible  objection  can  be  urged  against  an  inspector 
belonging  to  one  of  these  railway  labor  organizations. 
Practically  all  the  railroads  of  the  country  treat  with 
these  organizations ;  their  wages  and  conditions  of  service 
are  determined  by  the  method  of  collective  bargaining, 
and  it  may  be  assumed  that  the  railroads  have  found  this 
method  satisfactory  or  they  would  not  continue  it. 

Those  ignorant  of  the  fact  might  claim  that  this  is  a 
recognition  of  the  closed  shop  principle,  but  nothing  is 
farther  from  the  truth.  It  is  a  fact  that  in  the  entire 
history  of  these  railway  labor  organizations  no  objection 
has  ever  been  raised  to  the  employment  of  men  who  are 
not  members.  If  there  is  any  employment  in  the  world 
that  is  run  on  the  open  shop  principle,  it  is  certainly  that 
of  railroading.  .  .  . 

The  policy  of  selecting  these  safety  appliance  inspectors 
from  the  classes  indicated  in  the  regulations  was  adopted, 
with  the  approval  of  the  President,  with  the  idea  of  em- 
ploying them  from  among  those  persons  who  are  directly 
at  risk  and  in  whose  interest  the  law  was  primarily  enacted. 
That  their  service  has  been  highly  efficient  and  entirely 
satisfactory,  is  proved  by  the  records  of  this  office  relating 
to  prosecutions  for  violations  of  the  law.  In  the  cases 
that  have  been  brought  in  court  to  date,  involving  more 
than  two  thousand  separate  violations  of  the  law,  only 
six  have  been  decided  adversely  to  the  government,  and 
those  adverse  decisions  were  in  no  case  based  upon  the 
facts,  but  upon  interpretations  of  the  law  which  were  con- 


124  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

trary  to  the  views  held  by  the  Commission.  All  of  these 
cases  have  been  appealed,  in  the  effort  to  have  the  Com- 
mission's interpretation  of  the  law  sustained.  In  not  a 
single  instance  have  the  facts  on  which  inspectors  based 
reports  for  violation  of  the  law  been  controverted. 

Mr.  Moseley  took  much  pride  in  the  character  and  spirit 
of  his  corps.  He  guarded  it  vigilantly  against  the  intro- 
duction of  unfit  and  unworthy  applicants,  however  power- 
ful their  indorsers  might  be.  In  declining  to  appoint  a 
man  recommended  by  one  of  the  foremost  members  of 
Congress,  he  wrote :  — 

I  am  sure  you  will  understand  that  I  have  no  personal 
motive  in  this  matter  but  that  I  write  you  this  fully  and 
frankly,  having  in  mind  your  interest,  which  I  believe  will 
be  subserved  by  advising  you  of  the  true  situation,  as 
well  as  the  interests  of  that  large  body  of  our  fellow  citi- 
zens, for  the  protection  of  whom  this  legislation  was  en- 
acted. 

I  inclose  you  a  list  of  names  of  men  who  have  been  ap- 
pointed to  these  positions  and  the  reasons  for  which  they 
were  appointed.  You  can  readily  appreciate  the  number 
of  applications  which  have  been  made,  —  some  of  them 
indorsed  by  entire  state  congressional  delegations,  but 
not  a  man  has  been  selected  whose  name  was  suggested 
to  me  by  any  one  other  than  as  stated  in  my  memorandum 
to  you. 

Another  letter  to  a  most  influential  Massachusetts 
man,  who  proposed  the  appointment  of  a  person  from 
Mr.  Moseley's  own  home  neighborhood,  discloses  his 
scrupulous  care  in  the  selections :  — 

My  only  reason  for  hesitation  at  all  in  the  matter  has 
been  the  fact  of  his  residence  in  my  immediate  neighbor- 
hood and  the  possible  room  afforded  by  the  fact  of  an 
imputation  to  me  of  making  such  appointment  from  per- 


SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR      125 

sonal  consideration  alone.  The  rule  that  has  always  gov- 
erned me  in  such  matters  is  to  avoid  the  appearance  of 
being  controlled  by  such  considerations.  I  have  never 
made  an  appointment  to  any  position  by  reason  of  any 
personal  association  or  connection  with  myself. 

A  recent  report  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion noted  that,  in  all,  $206,600  had  been  collected  in 
judgments  against  railroads  for  violations  of  the  Safety 
Appliance  Act  since  it  went  into  force.  On  this  subject  of 
prosecuting  violators  of  the  act,  Mr.  Moseley  once  wrote 
to  the  then  president  of  the  Illinois  Central  Railroad  a 
letter  which  displayed  his  fairness  of  spirit  in  the  work  of 
enforcing  the  law :  — 

May  7,  1904. 
MR.  STUYVESANT  FISH, 

135  BROADWAY,  NEW  YORK,  N.Y. 
DEAR  MR.  FISH  : 

Your  kind  letter  of  the  fifth  instant  has  been  received, 
and  I  am  more  pleased  with  it  than  I  can  well  express, 
because  it  leads  me  to  believe  that  one  railway  president, 
at  least,  understands  me. 

The  institution  of  prosecutions  for  violation  of  the  law 
is  always  a  disagreeable  duty,  and  the  enforcement  of  the 
safety  appliance  and  accident  report  laws  is  never  resorted 
to  until  after  repeated  requests  for  compliance  with  the 
requirements  of  these  statutes  have  been  disregarded. 
One  controlling  reason  for  this  indulgent  practice  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  failure  to  observe  the  mandatory  provi- 
sions of  these  laws  is,  as  a  rule,  due  to  the  neglect  of  sub- 
ordinates in  the  railway  service. 

As  executive  officer  of  the  Commission  and  having  the 
matters  relating  to  safety  appliances  and  accidents  par- 
ticularly in  charge,  many  things  done  by  me  in  an  official 
capacity  may  seem  harsh  to  those  who  have  given  little 
attention  to  the  exigencies  of  this  administrative  work  and 
the  fair  and  ample  opportunities  always  allowed  to  car- 
riers for  the  correction  of  defective  appliances.  The  dis- 


126  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

charge  of  the  duties  enjoined  under  these  laws  could  be 
rendered  much  easier,  and  the  attitude  of  executive  rail- 
way officers  in  all  cases  be  one  of  friendly  cooperation, 
if  the  matter  should  be  made  the  subject  of  conference 
with  me  whenever  any  such  officer  believes  that  his  com- 
pany has  been  treated  harshly  or  unfairly  in  any  de- 
gree. .  .  . 
With  great  regard  and  respect,  I  am, 

Very  truly  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

While  engaged  in  the  task  of  seeing  that  the  two 
million  or  more  freight  cars  and  locomotives  in  the 
United  States  were  equipped  as  the  law  required,  Mr. 
Moseley  did  not  neglect  the  little  stretch  of  rails  across 
the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  when  the  government  acquired 
it,  or  the  small  amount  of  rolling  stock  belonging  to  navy 
yards.  Moreover,  the  advanced  stand  which  this  country 
took  for  safety  appliances  and  the  effective  methods 
adopted  for  enforcing  the  Federal  statutes  on  the  subject 
exerted  an  influence  entirely  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  United  States  government,  attracting  the  attention 
and  exciting  the  envy  of  other  nations. 

It  is  not  often  that  our  laws  are  looked  upon  as  models 
for  English  legislation,  but  London  Punch  lately  pointed 
to  the  Safety  Appliance  Acts  as  an  example  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  Great  Britain.  In  a  full-page  cartoon,  a  train- 
man is  shown  crouching  between  the  bumpers  of  cars 
equipped  with  the  antiquated  link  and  pin.  "An  Old 
Reproach"  is  the  headline,  and  Mr.  Punch  says,  in  allu- 
sion to  a  pending  arbitration:  "Glad  they're  settling  the 
question  of  hours  and  wages ;  but  what  about  the  question 
of  life  and  limb  ?  Railway  returns  show  an  appalling 


SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR      127 

number  of  deaths  and  injuries  among  shunters.  This 
number  might  be  enormously  reduced  by  the  introduc- 
tion, as  in  America,  of  automatic  coupling." 

Already  British  officials  had  taken  a  lively  interest  in 
safety  legislation  in  the  United  States,  and  for  some  time 
several  distinguished  members  of  the  government  were 
in  correspondence  with  Mr.  Moseley,  notably  Sir  Francis 
J.  S.  Hopwood,  who  repeatedly  drew  upon  the  experience 
of  his  American  correspondent  and  who  made  grateful 
acknowledgments  of  his  indebtedness.  "It  is  very  good 
of  you  to  pay  so  much  attention  to  friends  I  introduce," 
Sir  Francis  wrote  Mr.  Moseley,  relative  to  visiting  repre- 
sentatives of  the  British  Board  of  Trade,  whom  he  had 
accredited  from  time  to  time,  "but  the  consolation  to' 
you  must  be  found  in  the  fact  that  you  promote  a  good 
cause  on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic." 

When  it  was  proposed  in  1909  to  take  the  work  of 
enforcing  this  humane  legislation  out  of  Mr.  Moseley's 
hands,  the  representatives  of  the  men  in  whose  interest 
the  law  was  enacted  made  a  convincing  demonstration 
of  their  confidence  in  him.  The  proposal,  however, 
carried  no  personal  reflection  on  the  Secretary.  With  a 
judge's  liking  for  keeping  administrative  and  judicial 
duties  and  powers  nicely  separated,  President  Taft  had 
set  up  the  Court  of  Commerce,  and  he  contemplated  a 
new  arrangement  whereby  the  enforcement  of  the  Safety 
Appliance  Act  would  be  withdrawn  from  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission. 

Mr.  Taft  was  no  doubt  innocent  of  the  personal  bearing 
of  the  change.  But  a  rumor  of  it  was  enough  to  array 


128  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

the  brotherhoods  of  railroad  employees  against  a  plan 
that  would  transfer  the  task  from  Mr.  Moseley's  trained 
and  vigorous  hands.  The  White  House  resounded  with 
their  protests.  One  official  of  a  brotherhood  wrote  to 
another  official  this  review  of  the  situation :  — 

Mr.  Edward  A.  Moseley,  Secretary  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  may  justly  be  termed  the  father 
of  safety  appliance  laws  in  this  country.  For  twenty 
years  he  has  worked  with  unremitting  zeal  in  an  honest 
endeavor  to  throw  about  the  railway  employees  of  this 
nation,  the  protecting  arm  of  the  government  and  to 
shield  them  in  a  measure  from  the  dangers  of  the  perilous 
occupation  in  which  they  are  engaged.  It  is  largely 
through  his  efforts  that  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission has  to-day  arrived  at  its  present  state  of  efficiency 
and  that  the  laws  enacted  for  the  safety  of  employees  are 
beginning  to  bring  forth  results ;  and  the  earnest  hopes  on 
the  part  of  all  thinking  people  and  the  purpose  of  Congress 
are  just  beginning  to  be  realized. 

During  the  past  several  years,  the  Commission  has 
gathered  to  itself  many  men  of  exceptional  ability,  who 
have  a  practical  knowledge  of  modern  railway  methods 
and  whose  every  aspiration  is  heartily  in  sympathy  with 
the  great  humane  work  in  which  they  are  engaged.  .  .  . 
Because  of  this  effectual  work,  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  has  endeared  itself  to  the  hearts  of  more 
than  a  million  railway  employees  of  this  country.  Is  it 
any  wonder,  then,  and  can  it  not  be  justly  expected  that 
they  would  view  with  alarm  the  transfer  of  the  power  now 
in  the  hands  of  the  Commission  into  other  hands,  which, 
to  say  the  least,  are  unfamiliar  with  the  discharge  of  these 
duties  which  so  vitally  affect  our  interests. 

This  transfer  of  power  is  an  experiment  at  best,  and  it 
occurs  to  me  that  as  the  path  leading  up  to  the  present 
state  of  efficiency  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission 
has  been  a  rugged  road  indeed,  fraught  with  numerous 
perils  and  much  suffering  on  the  part  of  railway  employees, 
we  might  justly  be  excused  for  viewing  with  apprehension 


SAVING  TEN  THOUSAND  MEN  A  YEAR      129 

any  proposition  that  might  make  it  necessary  for  us  to 
retra verse  the  same  rugged  road. 

This  is  not  a  question  in  which  material  things  alone  are 
involved ;  to  us,  it  is  a  question  of  life  or  death ;  it  is  a 
question  in  which  the  widow's  anguish  and  the  orphan's 
tears  might  well  be  pointed  to  as  a  mute  appeal  against 
any  change  in  the  department  of  government  to  which  they 
have  learned  to  look  for  protection.  Therefore,  I  hope 
and  believe  that  you  will  take  such  steps  as  in  your  judg- 
ment will  bring  to  the  attention  of  the  President,  most 
forcibly,  the  light  in  which  we  regard  his  proposed  rec- 
ommendation, and,  failing  in  that  direction,  you  will,  or 
authorize  me  to,  bring  all  possible  power  to  bear  upon 
Congress,  by  circular  letter  to  all  lodges,  or  in  any  other 
manner  you  may  deem  advisable,  to  the  end  that  if  such 
recommendation  is  made  over  our  protest,  we  may  block 
its  successful  carrying  out  by  Congress. 

I  have  requested  an  audience  with  the  President,  and  it 
will  doubtless  be  granted  within  the  near  future.  I  shall 
use  my  best  efforts  to  apprize  him  of  the  apprehension 
with  which  we  view  his  contemplated  recommendation. 

Please  find  attached,  copy  from  the  New  York  Evening 
Post,  which  may  be  of  value  to  you  in  this  struggle.  All 
of  the  above  is  for  your  information  and  consideration. 

In  another  letter  between  the  thoroughly  aroused 
brotherhood  officials,  this  was  said  by  one  of  the  highest 
and  most  prominent  railway  labor  leaders :  — 

...  I  am  writing  to  ask  if  you  do  not  believe  that  a  meet- 
ing should  be  held  in  the  city  of  Chicago,  or  some  other 
convenient  place,  in  the  near  future  to  discuss  what  method 
shall  be  taken  to  prevent,  if  possible,  the  transfer  of  ad- 
ministrative authority  over  the  enforcement  of  Safety 
Appliance  Laws  from  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion to  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor. 

In  still  another  letter,  the  writer  gave  this  estimate  of 
Mr.  Moseley's  work :  — 


130  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

You  know  as  well  as  I  do  Secretary  Moseley's  whole 
heart  and  soul  are  in  this  particular  line  of  work,  and 
what  has  been  accomplished  by  a  small  number  of  men 
in  a  short  period  of  time  is  very  familiar  to  you,  and  one 
reason  for  this  splendid  showing  made  by  the  safety  ap- 
pliance inspectors,  they  strive  to  give  results  to  one  whom 
they  love  and  respect,  because  they  know  Secretary 
Moseley's  whole  being  is  wrapped  up  in  the  safety  of  the 
men  engaged  in  the  train  service.  To  me  it  would  seem 
a  crime  to  separate  Secretary  Moseley  from  the  safety 
appliance  division. 

I  am  sure,  if  necessary,  every  lodge  of  our  brotherhood 
in  the  United  States  would  pass  resolutions  against  a 
movement  to  change  the  safety  appliance  division  away 
from  a  department  that  has  accomplished  such  splendid 
results  for  our  men. 

President  Taft  was  not  unnaturally  surprised  and  per- 
turbed by  the  bombardment,  and  the  earnest  persistence 
of  the  brotherhood  officials,  in  letters  to  the  President  and 
calls  at  the  White  House,  did  not  leave  him  in  doubt  that 
the  protest  was  as  genuine  as  it  was  strong.  In  a  few 
days  he  assured  Mr.  Roe,  who  presented  himself  as  the 
representative  of  two  of  the  brotherhoods  and  as  the  man 
responsible  for  sounding  the  alarm,  that  the  project  would 
not  be  pressed. 

The  episode  is  recalled  here  only  to  put  on  record  the 
grateful  appreciation  of  the  representatives  of  a  host 
of  railway  workers  toward  a  man  who,  when  friends  were 
few  in  Washington,  had  boldly  befriended  them  and  who 
had  devoted  a  score  of  years  to  their  protection  from 
death  and  wounds  and  injustice. 


CHAPTER  XV 

Two  GREAT  MEASURES 

MR.  MOSELEY  was  the  first  person  invited  to  discuss 
labor  legislation  before  the  National  Industrial  Com- 
mission of  1898.  He  prepared  for  his  appearance  before 
that  body  with  his  usual  thoroughness,  and  there  is  no 
better  record  of  his  reasoning  powers,  his  spirit  of  inde- 
pendence and  fairness,  the  breadth  of  his  mind,  and  his 
advanced  position  than  may  be  found  in  the  official  report 
of  his  testimony  and  examination. 

The  Commission  had  been  appointed  by  President 
McKinley  in  obedience  to  the  orders  of  Congress  and 
charged  with  the  task  of  inquiring  into  economic  and 
industrial  conditions.  The  country  was  only  emerging 
from  a  long  period  of  hard  times  and  entering  an  era  of 
extraordinary  material  development.  People  were  think- 
ing almost  altogether  of  encouraging  business,  and  states- 
manship was  absorbed  in  the  work  of  legislation  for  the 
interests  of  property. 

Mr.  Moseley,  however,  was  still  thinking  of  men,  not 
money,  and  he  announced  to  the  Commission,  "I  am  here 
solely  as  a  citizen  whose  whole  heart  is  wrapped  up  in  the 
subject  of  the  relations  between  capital  and  labor  and 
the  proper  position  which  they  should  occupy  to  each 

other. "    Among  the  bills  which  he  drafted  and  proposed 

131 


132  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

was  an  act  requiring  railroads  to  report  all  collisions  and 
accidents,  with  the  causes  and  surrounding  circumstances. 

This  act  became  a  law  in  1901,  and  as  Secretary  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  he  inaugurated  the 
Quarterly  Accident  Bulletin,  which  became  in  his  hands 
an  important  feature  of  the  administrative  activities  of 
the  Commission.  The  bulletin  showed  a  rapidly  increas- 
ing number  of  deaths  and  injuries  on  the  rail,  notwith- 
standing the  adoption  of  safety  appliances.  That  was 
Mr.  Moseley's  purpose  when  he  urged  the  Accident 
Report  Law,  and  under  it  he  was  enabled  to  prove  that 
the  railroads  of  the  United  States  were  still  injuring 
relatively  twenty-nine  times  as  many  persons  as  the 
railroads  of  the  kingdom  of  Prussia.  The  Accident  Bulle- 
tins show  that  a  passenger  in  this  country  is  injured  every 
39  minutes  and  an  employee  every  11  minutes. 

The  publication  of  the  reports  at  first  disheartened, 
and  then  aroused,  the  supporters  of  safety  legislation. 
With  the  passage  of  the  act  requiring  automatic  couplers 
and  brakes,  it  was  comfortably  assumed  that  the  ugly 
problem  had  been  met  and  solved  and  that  the  work  was 
finished.  The  bulletins  exposed  the  fallacy  of  that 
assumption  and  disturbed  the  easy  assurance  of  the  law- 
makers. The  Safety  Appliance  Acts  had  protected  only 
the  employees  engaged  in  coupling  and  braking  and  left 
untouched  all  other  perils  of  railroad  employment  and 
travel. 

To  avert  collision,  a  prolific  source  of  accidents  to  men 
and  passengers,  Mr.  Moseley  took  up  the  advocacy  of  a 
law  compelling  all  railroads  to  establish v  the  block  signal 


TWO  GREAT  MEASURES 


133 


system  in  the  running  of  trains,  in  place  of  the  old  and 
faulty  system,  under  which  a  train  dispatcher,  in  a  moment 
of  confusion,  a  sleepy  boy  in  a  telegraph  office,  or  a  worn- 
out  flagman  could  wreck  two  trainloads  of  humanity. 

TABLE  SHOWING  NUMBER  OF  RAILWAY  EMPLOYEES  ON  PAYROLLS, 
JUNE  30  OF  EACH  YEAR  AND  THE  INCREASING  NUMBERS  KILLED 
AND  INJURED,  NOTWITHSTANDING  THE  GREAT  DECLINE  IN 
COUPLING  ACCIDENTS  DUE  TO  THE  ADOPTION  OF  SAFETY  AP- 
PLIANCES 


YEAB 

TOTAL  NUMBER  OF  RAILWAY  EM- 
PLOYEES 

NUMBER 
KILLED 

PER    1000 

EMPLOYED 

NUMBER 
INJURED 

PER  1000 

EMPLOYED 

On  Payrolls 
June  30 

Killed 
during 
Year 

Injured 
during 
Year 

1895  

785,034 

826,620 
823,476 
874,558 
928,924 
1,017,653 
,071,169 
,189,315 
,312,537 
,296,121 
,382,196 
,521,355 
,672,074 
,458,244 

1,811 
1,861 

1,693 
1,958 
2,210 
2,550 
2,675 
2,969 
3,606 
3,632 
3,361 
3,929 
4,534 
3,470 

25,696 
29,969 
27,667 
31,761 
34,923 
39,643 
41,142 
50,524 
60,481 
67,067 
66,833 
76,701 
87,644 
83,367 

2.307 
2.251 
2.056 
2.239 
2.379 
2.506 
2.497 
2.497 
2.747 
2.802 
2.431 
2.583 
2.712 
2.380 

32.73 
36.26 
33.61 
36.32 
37.59 
38.96 
38.41 
42.48 
46.08 
51.75 
48.36 
50.43 
52.42 
57.17 

1896  

1897  

1898 

1899       .... 

1900  

1901  

1902  

1903  

1904  

1905  

1906  

1907  

1908  

He  simply  advocated  that  all  railroads  should  be  com- 
pelled to  do  what  some  railroads  had  voluntarily  done 
in  adopting  the  block  signal  method.  He  continually 
preached  the  doctrine  through  the  accident  bulletins  and 
in  the  press. 


134  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

In  accordance  with  his  recommendation,  the  Commis- 
sion, in  its  report  to  Congress  for  1903,  advocated  a  law 
making  the  use  of  the  block  system  obligatory,  and  the 
draft  of  a  bill  was  presented.  Mr.  Esch,  of  Wisconsin, 
a  prominent  member  of  the  House  committee  on  inter- 
state and  foreign  commerce,  introduced  the  bill,  and 
Mr.  Moseley  aided  him  with  arguments  and  statistics 
in  support  of  it.  A  strong  effort  was  made  to  have  the 
bill  passed  in  1906,  but  it  was  urged  that  Congress  did 
not  have  sufficient  information  concerning  the  use  and 
need  of  block  signals  and  automatic  train  stops  to  enable 
it  intelligently  to  legislate.  Mr.  Moseley  thereupon 
secured  the  passage  of  a  joint  resolution,  authorizing  an 
investigation  of  the  entire  subject,  together  with  tests 
of  such  automatic  appliances  as  promised  to  contribute 
to  the  safety  of  train  operation. 

Under  this  resolution  a  board  of  experts  was  appointed, 
and  a  thorough  investigation  was  made.  This  board 
has  made  several  valuable  reports,  stating  definite  con- 
clusions hi  favor  of  both  the  block  signal  system  and 
automatic  train  control  appliances,  which  in  due  time 
Congress  probably  will  adopt,  and  which  probably  would 
already  have  been  adopted  had  Mr.  Moseley  been  spared 
to  urge  and  steer  the  movement  to  that  end. 

When  such  a  law  finally  is  in  operation,  we  are  likely 
to  have  fewer  head-on  or  rear-end  collisions,  and  the 
greatest  terror  of  travel  on  railroads  will  be  much  lessened. 
Then  there  will  be  automatic  signals  on  every  railroad 
in  the  country  to  warn  the  engineer  of  the  near  presence 
of  a  train  ahead.  If  he  should  run  by  the  signal,  —  one 


TWO   GREAT  MEASURES  135 

engineer  reported  256  signals  on  a  run  of  148  miles  at 
a  speed  of  nearly  a  mile  a  minute,  or  a  signal  to  be  ob- 
served and  obeyed  every  35  seconds,  —  it  is  hoped  that 
it  may  prove  feasible  to  have  a  little  mechanical  contri- 
vance which  will  automatically  correct  him  and  bring 
his  train  to  a  stop.  In  the  agitation  that  prepared  the 
way  for  this  important  life-saving  measure,  Mr.  Moseley 
was  the  pioneer,  but  in  pursuance  of  his  invariable 
custom,  he  held  himself  in  the  background,  taking  no 
credit  and  not  even  permitting  his  name  to  appear  in 
connection  with  it. 

In  an  article  which  he  wrote  for  the  Review  of  Reviews 
in  1904,  on  " Railroad  Accidents  in  the  United  States," 
he  set  forth  arguments  and  statistics,  not  only  in  support 
of  block  signals,  but  in  favor  of  still  other  laws  for  the 
protection  of  life  on  railroads.  He  divided  all  accidents 
to  passengers  into  two  classes,  preventable  and  unpre- 
ventable,  and  he  showed  that  a  far  larger  number  are 
killed  and  injured  in  the  former  than  in  the  latter  class. 

Among  the  preventable  accidents,  he  enumerated  those 
due  to  the  absence  of  block  signals,  to  overworked  train- 
men, to  defects  in  the  train  order  system,  to  the  lack  of  a 
third  man  on  locomotives,  and  to  other  lesser  causes  that 
are  avoidable.  He  concluded  his  article  with  these 
suggested  remedies :  First,  block  signals ;  second,  a  re- 
formed train  order  system ;  third,  shorter  hours  of  serv- 
ice ;  fourth,  a  third  man  on  all  modern,  high-speed  loco- 
motives ;  fifth,  relieving  conductors  of  heavy,  high-speed 
trains  from  ticket  taking  and  every  other  responsibility 
except  that  of  running  the  train ;  sixth,  the  employment 


136  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

of  only  experienced  men  in  responsible  positions ;  seventh, 
the  laying  of  a  second,  third,  and  fourth  track  as  rapidly 
as  practicable  for  the  accommodation  of  the  growing 
traffic. 

While  advocating  the  block  signal  in  place  of  human 
beings  to  guard  against  collisions,  Mr.  Moseley  joined 
in  the  movement  for  regulating  by  law  the  hours  of 
service  for  trainmen.  He  took  care  that  the  quarterly 
bulletins  should  regularly  point  the  moral  in  support  of 
the  latter  measure. 

For  accident  after  accident  such  causes  as  these  were 
assigned  in  the  reports  from  the  railroads:  " Flagman 
sent  back  to  protect  rear  of  train,  but  fell  asleep  at  side 
of  track,  after  twenty-one  hours  on  duty ; "  "  Sent  out  with 
flag,  but  fell  asleep  on  track,  after  fifteen  hours  on  duty ;" 
"Crew  fell  asleep,  after  twenty-seven  hours  on  duty;" 
"Engineer  ran  by  signals,  after  fifty-nine  hours  on  duty, 
with  only  two  hours  sleep;"  " Engineer  and  brakemen 
asleep,  after  eighteen  hours  on  duty;"  "Flagman  asleep, 
after  sixteen  and  one  half  hours  on  duty ;"  "Flagman  and 
conductor  asleep,  after  eighteen  hours  on  duty;"  "Engi- 
neer asleep  —  discharged  —  after  thirty-eight  hours  on 
duty;"  "Disobeyed  signals,  after  forty-eight  hours  on 
duty;"  "Mistook  red  signal  for  green,  after  twenty-one 
hours  on  duty;"  "Engineer  did  not  keep  proper  lookout, 
after  twenty-two  hours  on  duty." 

It  is  just  to  say  that  many  railroads  had  rules  which 
prescribed  proper  hours  of  labor,  but  if  the  men  were 
willing  they  were  permitted  to  work  extra  and  thereby 
earn  more  pay.  It  was  therefore  simply  a  question  of 


TWO  GREAT  MEASURES  137 

financial  temptation  and  physical  endurance  on  the  part 
of  the  men.  A  letter  from  the  mother  of  a  railroad 
workman  called  out  this  statement  of  Mr.  Moseley's 
views  a  few  months  before  the  publication  of  his  article 
in  the  Review  of  Reviews :  — 

August  4,  1904. 
DEAR  MADAM  : 

Your  letter  of  July  19  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Depart- 
ment of  Commerce  and  Labor  has  been  referred  to  this 
Commission. 

I  am  greatly  interested  in  your  letter,  and  do  wish  that 
something  could  be  done  to  embody  in  legislation  the 
ideas  you  have  so  well  expressed,  especially  with  regard  to 
the  excessive  hours  of  labor  to  which  railroad  trainmen  are 
subjected.  It  is  really  shameful  the  way  men  are  driven, 
and  the  consequences  are  something  terrible,  leading  not 
alone  to  a  direct  loss  of  life  in  many  cases,  but  also  to  the 
physical  and  moral  degeneration  of  the  men  themselves. 

It  was  only  two  or  three  days  ago  that,  in  discussing 
this  very  question  with  the  chief  executive  of  one  of  our 
largest  and  most  conservative  railway  organizations  of 
employees,  he  said  to  me,  "Do  you  know  that  the  use  of 
intoxicating  liquor  by  locomotive  engineers  is  largely  on 
the  increase?"  I  expressed  surprise  at  the  statement, 
and  asked  him  to  what  he  attributed  the  fact. 

He  replied  that  it  was  directly  due  to  the  excessive 
hours  of  labor  to  which  the  men  were  subjected.  The 
monster  engines  and  heavy  trains  now  in  service  are  a 
terrible  strain  on  the  men  under  the  best  conditions  con- 
ceivable, but  when  they  are  compelled  to  be  on  duty  from 
eighteen  to  thirty-six  hours  at  a  stretch,  under  the  terrible 
nervous  strain  that  is  an  ordinary  incident  of  modern 
railroading,  they  simply  go  to  pieces,  and  it  is  not  surpris- 
ing that  they  should  resort  to  stimulants  to  drive  then* 
jaded  bodies  and  nerve  them  to  the  work  before  them. 

This  gentleman  informed  me  that  it  was  his  intention 
to  start  an  agitation  within  the  ranks  of  the  organizations 
for  the  purpose  of  appealing  to  Congress  to  pass  a  law 
limiting  the  hours  of  labor  of  railroad  men,  and  prescribing 


138  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

penalties  for  its  infraction.  This  is  really  one  of  the  most 
important  matters  affecting  the  safety  of  the  traveling 
public  that  can  be  imagined,  and  public  interest  should 
be  aroused  to  the  gravity  of  the  situation. 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  publishes  quar- 
terly reports  of  accidents  on  railways  in  the  United 
States,  the  last  published  one  of  which  I  inclose  herewith. 
These  bulletins  are  made  up  from  reports  which  are  fur- 
nished to  the  Commission  by  the  railroads  themselves, 
and  furnish  numerous  instances  where  the  inference  is 
plain  that  accidents  resulted  from  men  being  too  long  on 
duty.  In  the  inclosed  bulletin  you  will  note  two  cases 
which  I  have  marked,  resulting  in  the  death  of  two  per- 
sons, and  both  of  them  were  undoubtedly  caused  by  the 
men  being  worn  out  by  excessive  hours  of  duty.  Engi- 
neers and  flagmen  do  not  go  to  sleep  at  their  posts  unless 
they  are  completely  worn  out. 

The  question  of  ambulance  cars  and  facilities  for  giving 
first  aid  to  the  injured  is  of  importance,  and  I  understand 
that  many  of  the  western  roads  have  been  long  in  the  habit 
of  carrying  emergency  chests  on  their  trains.  It  ought  to 
be  a  general  condition,  and  employees  ought  to  be  given 
regular  instruction  in  the  art  of  giving  first  aid ;  but  the 
question  of  excessive  hours  of  labor  so  far  transcends  this 
in  importance  that  it  really  sinks  into  insignificance. 

I  am  glad  to  note  your  interest  in  this  matter,  and  hope 
you  will  do  what  you  can  to  widen  the  circle  of  interest 
until  the  public  becomes  thoroughly  aroused  to  demand 
some  system  of  legislative  protection,  both  for  the  em- 
ployees who  have  to  suffer  directly,  and  for  themselves  who 
are  often  indirectly  the  victims.  In  England  the  hours 
of  railway  servants  are  under  the  direction  of  the  Board 
of  Trade,  and  employees  are  fully  protected  by  law  from 
excessive  hours  of  labor.  It  should  be  the  same  here. 

Again  thanking  you  for  your  good  letter,  I  am, 

Very  respectfully, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY, 
Secretary. 

Similar  expressions  of  interest  in  limiting  the  hours  of 
work  were  introduced  in  the  reports  of  the  Commission 


TWO  GREAT  MEASURES  139 

for  1904  and  1905.  While  President  Roosevelt  was  at  his 
summer  home  at  Oyster  Bay,  in  1906,  he  read  an  article 
in  the  Outlook,  entitled  "  Asleep  at  his  Post."  The  article 
aroused  his  interest  in  the  subject  of  overworked  railroad 
employees  and  was  the  means  of  bringing  his  powerful 
influence  to  bear  for  the  passage  of  a  remedial  law.  He 
hastened  to  call  upon  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion for  a  report  in  the  following  letter :  — 

OYSTER  BAY,  N.Y. 

July  23,  1906. 
GENTLEMEN  : 

I  am  directed  by  the  President  to  ask  if  you  will  inform 
him  what  legislation  is  needed,  in  view  of  the  article  in 
the  last  number  of  the  Outlook  entitled,  "  Asleep  at  his 
Post." 

Very  truly  yours, 
WM.  LOEB,  JR., 
Secretary  to  the  President. 
INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION, 
WASHINGTON,  D.  C. 

Mr.  Moseley  had  already  taken  up  the  matter  with  the 
railroad  labor  organizations  the  year  before,  and  they  had 
joined  in  asking  him  to  aid  their  legislative  representative 
in  the  preparation  of  a  bill.  He  found,  however,  that  he 
could  not  agree  with  their  representative  in  framing  what 
he  regarded  as  a  practical  measure. 

When  President  Roosevelt  took  up  the  question,  Mr. 
Moseley  rejoiced,  for  he  knew  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  would 
push  it  with  his  characteristic  vigor,  and  compel  imme- 
diate action.  Legislation  was  recommended  in  the  annual 
message  of  the  President  in  December,  1906,  and  a  hot 
fight  ensued.  The  railroads  at  first  stubbornly  opposed 


140  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

any  interference  whatever  by  the  government,  and  many 
prominent  members  of  the  two  Houses  were  disinclined 
to  run  counter  to  the  railroad  influences.  The  President, 
however,  wrote  exceedingly  sharp  letters  to  some  of  them, 
which  stirred  them  to  action. 

It  was  a  complex  and  difficult  subject  for  legislation, 
and  the  railroads  were  able  to  raise  many  strong  objec- 
tions to  details  in  any  scheme  of  regulation.  A  deadlock 
followed,  the  session  was  near  its  end,  and  it  seemed  as  if 
a  bill  could  not  be  agreed  upon  before  adjournment.  It 
was  a  situation  calling  for  concessions.  While  Mr. 
Moseley  worked  with  the  President  to  secure  some 
practical  result  through  compromise,  he  was  in  a  cross 
fire  between  the  representatives  of  the  railroads  and  the 
legislative  agent  of  the  railroad  labor  organizations. 
Moreover,  he  felt  called  upon  to  protect  the  President 
against  being  dragged  into  a  public  controversy  on  the 
subject,  and  he  found  himself  at  times  in  a  tight  corner 
and  bearing  alone  the  brunt  of  a  savage  attack. 

When  the  bill  was  in  desperate  straits  and  all  but 
dead,  the  President  called  a  conference,  and  Mr.  Moseley 
went  to  the  White  House  to  advise  with  him  and  the 
House  Committee.  The  President  induced  the  com- 
mittee to  agree  to  report  the  bill  with  the  amendments 
which  Mr.  Moseley  proposed,  and  the  House  passed  it 
as  amended. 

A  conflict  next  arose  between  the  Senate  and  House, 
when  again  Mr.  Moseley  was  summoned  to  the  White 
House  to  give  his  views  to  a  conference  committee.  The 
fate  of  the  bill  was  still  in  the  balance  on  Sunday,  the  day 


TWO  GREAT  MEASURES  141 

before  adjournment,  and  Mr.  Moseley  made  his  final 
appeal  then  to  the  conferees  of  the  two  Houses.  It  was 
in  the  closing  hours  of  the  session  of  1907  that  the  bill 
became  a  law.  The  Washington  correspondent  of  the 
Chicago  Tribune  in  reporting  the  President's  success  in 
the  matter,  said:  "In  this  campaign  the  President  has 
been  greatly  assisted  by  Edward  A.  Moseley,  Secretary 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  the  real 
originator  of  the  legislation." 

While  Mr.  Moseley  was  far  from  satisfied  with  the  law, 
he  felt  assured  that  it  was  the  best  that  could  possibly 
have  been  passed  in  the  face  of  a  strong  opposition,  and 
that  it  was  a  fair  start  toward  better  things.  Although 
the  legislative  representative  of  the  brotherhoods,  in 
an  uncompromising  spirit  which  would  have  defeated  all 
legislation  on  the  subject,  had  tried  to  make  it  appear 
that  Mr.  Moseley  was  working  against  the  interests  of  the 
railroad  men,  the  organizations  relied  on  his  wisdom ; 
the  chiefs  telegraphed  him  their  thanks,  while  the  legisla- 
tive agent  was  recalled  and  ceased  to  represent  the  brother- 
hoods at  Washington. 

By  the  provisions  of  the  Hours  of  Service  Act,  it  is 
made  unlawful  for  common  carriers  to  require  or  permit 
any  telegrapher  or  dispatcher  at  a  night  and  day  office 
to  work  more  than  nine  hours  in  twenty-four,  nor  for 
more  than  thirteen  hours,  if  employed  at  a  place  which 
is  operated  only  in  the  daytime. 

For  every  other  employee  connected  with  train  opera- 
tion, it  is  provided  that  he  shall  not  be  required  or  per- 
mitted to  remain  on  duty  for  a  longer  period  than  sixteen 


142  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

consecutive  hours ;  when  that  limit  has  been  reached,  he 
shall  be  relieved  and  not  permitted  to  return  to  duty 
until  he  has  had  ten  consecutive  hours  off  duty;  any 
employee  who  has  been  on  duty  sixteen  hours,  not  con- 
secutively, but  in  the  aggregate  in  the  course  of  twenty- 
four  hours,  shall  have  eight  hours  off  before  being  required 
or  permitted  to  return  to  work. 

The  necessary  exceptions  to  these  rules  are  carefully 
guarded,  and,  thanks  to  this  law,  the  Commission  has  been 
enabled  to  announce  that  mishaps,  attributed  to  trainmen 
falling  asleep,  have  almost  entirely  disappeared  from  the 
accident  reports. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION 

MR.  MOSELEY  successfully  labored  for  the  enactment 
and  enforcement  of  many  important  laws;  he  was 
engaged  in  a  continuous  legislative  campaign  for  nearly 
a  quarter  of  a  century.  None  among  the  statutes  which 
he  advocated,  excepting  only  the  Safety  Appliance  Acts, 
better  reflected  the  spirit  of  the  man  than  the  Arbitration 
Law  of  1898,  commonly  known  as  the  Erdman  Act,  which 
chanced  to  take  its  name  from  a  Pennsylvania  congress- 
man who  was  not  a  member  of  Congress  when  the  law 
was  passed,  or  the  author  of  a  line  of  it. 

Mr.  Moseley's  interest  in  the  subject  was  manifested 
as  early  as  the  period  of  his  service  in  the  Massachusetts 
Legislature,  when  he  introduced  an  arbitration  bill. 
His  experience  as  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  strengthened  his  conviction  of  the  necessity 
of  taking  measures  for  the  promotion  of  peace  between 
employers  and  employees.  In  his  Boston  address  to  the 
Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Trainmen  on  October  17,  1893, 
he  said :  — 

The  mind  of  man  can  hardly  conceive  of  the  desolation 
which  might  be  caused  whenever  the  men  who  man  the 
brakes,  fire  the  engine,  or  control  its  movements,  combine 
throughout  the  land  in  an  assertion  of  what  they  con- 
ceive to  be  their  inalienable  rights.  The  very  staff  of 

143 


144  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

life,  bread,  must  at  such  a  time  be  wanting  in  sections 
which  had  never  before  known  the  blighting  touch  of 
poverty ;  the  winter  blast  will  at  such  a  time  send  a  colder 
chill  to  hearths  where  lack  of  warmth  had  never  be- 
fore been  felt.  The  desolation  of  war  would  be  as  nothing 
compared  to  the  famine  which  organized  effort  on  your 
part  could  create. 

These  considerations  serve  also  to  keep  you  constantly 
reminded  of  the  grave  and  delicate  responsibilities  resting 
upon  you,  and  particularly  your  chosen  leaders  charged 
in  a  large  measure  with  the  duty  of  wisely  directing  your 
actions.  How  grateful,  therefore,  should  every  inhabitant 
of  this  great  country  feel  to  the  men  in  whose  hands  are 
intrusted  not  only  fortune  and  the  comforts  of  life,  but 
life  itself.  The  efforts  of  the  leaders  among  you,  as  has 
often  been  shown  in  the  past,  are  more  frequently  directed 
toward  conciliation,  and  as  a  restraining  influence  in  the 
brotherhood,  than  in  any  other  way.  .  .  . 

It  is  no  use  to  disguise  the  fact  that  when  the  public 
is  put  to  inconvenience  by  reason  of  a  strike,  the  public 
retaliates  by  denouncing  the  strikers.  Yet  slowly  but 
surely,  after  the  heat  of  the  battle  has  passed  away,  public 
opinion  finally  separates  the  chaff  from  the  wheat,  and 
determines  who  has  done  the  wrong  and  should  bear  the 
responsibility.  It  is,  therefore,  of  the  greatest  importance, 
from  a  purely  selfish  point  of  view,  that  no  step  should 
ever  be  taken  which  would  disturb  intercourse  between  the 
people  of  the  country  in  any  degree  without  the  greatest 
provocation;  because  you  are  bringing  trouble,  incon- 
venience, and  perhaps  distress  upon  others ;  and,  as  the 
rich  can  always  look  out  for  themselves,  the  burden  is 
sure  to  fall  more  heavily  upon  those  who  are  poor  and  can 
ill  afford  to  bear  it. 

Already  Mr.  Moseley  had  proposed  a  national  arbi- 
tration law  —  and  compulsory  arbitration  —  as  a  remedy 
for  railroad  strikes.  In  concluding  an  earnest  and  able 
argument  for  such  a  statute  in  the  journal,  Transportation, 
for  September,  1893,  he  said :  — 


MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  145 

Congress  has  recently  passed  a  humane  law  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  railroad  employee,  providing  for  the  adoption 
of  a  uniform  system  of  coupling  cars,  and  for  other  ap- 
pliances ;  and  that  law  was  intended  to  protect  employees 
as  far  as  possible  from  injury  and  death.  Why  should 
not  Congress,  by  making  arbitration  compulsory,  now 
provide  for  the  protection  of  their  livelihood  as  well? 
This  is  especially  appropriate  and  feasible  when  the  fact 
is  considered  that  such  a  disposition  of  railway  labor  dis- 
putes is  eminently  fair,  is  practically  certain  to  result  in 
just  awards,  and  will  be  for  the  interest  of  the  employer 
as  well  as  of  the  employed. 

The  conductors,  the  engineers,  the  firemen,  yardmen, 
brakemen  and  switchmen  all  contribute,  not  their  manual 
labor  only,  but  their  brains,  their  judgment,  and,  as  sta- 
tistics show, their  lives  too  often,  as  against  the  mere  money 
of  the  stockholders.  Are  they  not,  then,  entitled  to  con- 
sideration and  protection  ?  The  law  affords  no  remedy ; 
the  courts,  as  at  present  constituted,  have  no  power  to 
deal  with  the  real  question.  Further  legislation  is  nec- 
essary: To  the  broad  principle  of  arbitration  we  must 
look  for  ultimate  relief  !  To  the  importance  of  the  ques- 
tion involved  and  to  the  urgent  need  of  an  adequate 
remedy  we  can  no  longer  shut  our  eyes  with  safety. 

A  letter  which  was  addressed  to  him  shortly  after  the 
publication  of  his  article  in  Transportation  and  the  delivery 
of  his  Boston  address  testified  at  once  to  his  recognized 
leadership  of  the  movement  and  to  the  indorsement  of  it 
by  the  railroad  labor  organizations :  — 


146  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

OFFICE  OF  THE  GRAND  LODGE, 
BROTHERHOOD  OF  LOCOMOTIVE  FIREMEN 

TERRE  HAUTE,  INDIANA. 

Nov.  28,  1893. 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  ESQ.,  Secretary, 

Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  Washington,  D.C. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  MOSELEY: 

While  in  St.  Louis  the  early  part  of  last  week,  I  had 
quite  a  lengthy  interview  with  Grand  Chief  Arthur  of  the 
B.  of  L.  E.  in  regard  to  united  action  on  the  part  of  the 
executive  officers  of  each  of  the  railway  organizations  in 
conjunction  with  yourself  and  such  others  as  may  be 
friendly  to  us  in  bringing  about  national  legislation  for 
the  purpose  of  compelling  arbitration  of  all  railway  dis- 
putes. I  find  that  Mr.  Arthur  is  in  hearty  sympathy 
with  the  movement,  as  are  all  the  other  grand  officers  with 
whom  I  have  talked. 

I  write  you  to  get  an  opinion  from  you  as  to  the  pro- 
priety of  a  meeting  in  Washington  as  soon  as  it  is  possible 
for  us  to  convene  there,  for  the  purpose  of  agreeing  upon 
a  bill,  which  will,  in  the  judgment  of  the  majority  of  the 
parties  interested,  meet  the  requirements,  and  for  the 
purpose  of  bringing  about  such  influence  upon  represen- 
tatives and  senators  as  possible  for  the  enactment  of  the 
measure. 

We  look  upon  you  as  the  principal  engineer  in  this  move- 
ment. Your  utterances  on  the  question  of  arbitration 
and  your  suggestions  are  very  valuable  to  us  all,  and  we 
therefore  submit  this  proposition  to  you  and  if  in  your 
judgment  it  will  be  wise  for  us  to  hold  a  meeting  there,  I 
will  arrange  with  the  grand  officers  at  our  next  meeting 
in  St.  Paul  to  have  a  date  fixed  when  we  shall  all  be  pres- 
ent in  Washington  and  with  you  go  over  the  matter  very 
carefully  and  decide  upon  a  course  of  action  to  be  carried 
out  during  the  winter  months  while  Congress  is  in  session. 

Awaiting  your  reply,  I  remain 

Yours  sincerely, 
F.  P.  SARGENT. 


MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  147 

In  the  course  of  the  session  of  Congress  that  followed, 
the  great  railroad  strike  of  1894  —  the  so-called  Debs 
Strike  —  realized  the  fears  Mr.  Moseley  had  expressed, 
and  forced  upon  public  attention  the  problem  of  securing 
peace  with  justice  on  the  national  highways.  Court 
injunction  and  the  bayonet  were  found  to  be  the  only 
means  at  hand  for  reopening  those  highways,  closed  by  a 
widespread  strike  in  the  Midwest  and  the  Northwest. 
As  Mr.  Moseley  had  pointed  out  in  his  argument  for  an 
arbitration  law,  "the  fundamental  cause  of  the  trouble 
.  .  .  was  not  and  could  not  have  been  considered  by  the 
courts  with  a  view  to  settlement." 

The  law  took  no  account  of  the  grievance  of  the  strikers  ; 
the  government  could  only  act  as  a  strike  breaker,  and 
leave  whatever  injustice  there  was  in  the  situation  to 
rankle,  uncured  and  unconsidered.  A  system  of  whole- 
sale blacklisting  of  strikers  and  union  men  was  adopted 
by  certain  railroads  against  the  defeated  and  helpless 
members  of  labor  organizations. 

Meanwhile,  the  country  was  distracted  by  the  hard 
times  through  which  it  was  groping,  and  the  arbitration 
bill  that  Mr.  Moseley  presented  to  Congress,  under  the 
privilege  of  a  friendly  member,  was  not  taken  up.  Never- 
theless, he  persisted  in  his  agitation.  He  went  to  Attorney- 
General  Olney,  who  had  incurred  the  censure  of  labor 
men  by  counseling  in  President  Cleveland's  cabinet  the 
vigorous  measures  adopted  against  the  Debs  Strike,  and 
brought  to  his  attention  the  other  side  of  the  question. 
He  asked  Mr.  Olney  to  give  him  the  privilege  of  introduc- 
ing some  of  the  personal  elements  in  that  other  side,  and 


148  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

he  induced  representatives  of  the  workingmen  to  go  with 
him  to  see  the  official  whom  they  had  come  to  regard  as 
their  able  and  unrelenting  foe. 

It  was  always  Mr.  Moseley's  simple  faith  that  men 
needed  only  to  know  in  order  to  understand  one  another. 
His  faith  was  justified  in  this  instance.  Mr.  Olney's 
interest  was  awakened,  and  the  labor  men  found  him 
ready  to  discuss  matters  in  a  spirit  of  fairness. 

When,  therefore,  the  Reading  Railroad  management 
revived  an  old  rule  against  the  employment  of  members 
of  labor  unions,  Mr.  Moseley  asked  the  union  officials 
to  come  to  Washington  and  see  the  attorney-general. 
The  Reading  road  was  in  the  hands  of  receivers  appointed 
by  the  United  States  court  and  under  some  degree  of 
responsibility  to  the  law  department  of  the  government. 

Mr.  Olney  listened  to  his  callers  and  was  convinced 
that  their  organizations  were  wrongfully  treated.  He 
brought  the  question  before  the  receivers,  but  they 
refused  to  rescind  the  discriminatory  order.  By  his 
advice  a  union  official  sued  for  an  injunction,  but  not 
being  an  actual  employee  and  only  a  representative  of  the 
employees,  the  court  dismissed  his  bill. 

Any  employee  daring  to  challenge  the  rule  would,  of 
course,  be  discharged  from  employment;  but  three  em- 
ployees came  forward  and  offered  to  sacrifice  themselves. 
The  case  was  brought  in  their  names,  and  they  were 
summarily  discharged ;  but  the  workmen  had  the  satis- 
faction of  seeing  the  attorney-general  of  the  United  States 
come  to  their  assistance  and  file  a  statement  in  then- 
behalf  as  "amicus  curiae."  Nevertheless,  the  court 


MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  149 

decided  adversely  to  the  unions  and  the  attorney-general, 
and  the  discrimination  was  permitted  to  continue. 

Mr.  Moseley  next  interested  Mr.  Olney  in  arbitration, 
and  the  attorney-general  drafted  much  of  the  bill  which, 
under  Mr.  Moseley's  championship  before  committees 
and  in  the  lobby  of  Congress,  became  a  law  on  June  1, 
1898.  Some  of  the  obstacles  which  had  to  be  overcome 
in  securing  the  passage  of  the  law  are  disclosed  by  Mr. 
Moseley  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  under  date  of  November  8, 
1897:- 

The  Arbitration  Bill  was  introduced  in  both  House  and 
Senate  during  the  extra  session  of  Congress,  but  no  action 
was  taken  in  either  branch;  in  fact,  in  the  House  of  Rep- 
resentatives, there  were  no  committees  appointed,  as  you 
are  aware,  therefore,  there  has  been  nothing  as  yet  done. 
I  will  try  and  send  you  the  bill  to-day. 

The  one  that  I  send  has  met  the  approval  of  the  Fed- 
eration of  Railway  Employees,  but  Mr.  Gompers  and  Mr. 
Forsyth,  who  represents  the  Seamen's  Union,  and  is 
connected  with  the  American  Federation  of  Labor,  op- 
pose any  legislation.  It  seems  to  me  a  sort  of  "dog-in- 
the-manager"  attitude  to  take,  for,  in  deference  to  the 
Seamen,  we  have  carefully  excluded  them  from  the  opera- 
tion of  the  bill,  and  I  believe  that  Mr.  Gompers  could 
trust  the  leaders  of  the  Railway  Associations.  .  .  . 

I  am  doing  my  best.  It  is  unnecessary  for  me  to  tell 
you  that.  In  the  last  Congress  you  will  see  the  fate  of 
the  Arbitration  Bill.  It  passed  the  House.  The  railway 
organizations,  through  me,  had  an  interview  with  Mr. 
Reed ;  it  resulted  in  its  passage ;  but  Mr.  Calvin  Brice 
soaked  it  in  the  Senate.  I  send  you  a  memorandum  which 
will  show  you  how  it  went  on.  Those  people  up  there  in 
the  Senate  know  very  well  how  to  kill  a  thing  without 
apparently  antagonizing  it. 

I  have  always  believed  that  Mr.  Olney's  proposed 
amendment  to  the  bill  which,  in  fact,  he  drew  at  our  in- 
stance, and  simply  because  we  wanted  to  be  fair  to  the 


150  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

railroads  as  well  as  to  the  men,  should  have  gone  in  the 
bill,  and  I  think  events  are  proving  it. 

When  the  community  is  really  threatened  with  famine 
or  widespread  disaster,  the  President  should  have  the 
power  to  invoke  the  aid  of  the  courts,  as  he  now  possesses 
the  power  of  using  the  military  and  only  to  the  same 
extent,  for  he  never  will  dare  to  do  so  unless  it  is  in  answer 
to  public  opinion,  no  matter  who  the  President  is;  but 
when  it  comes  that  private  individuals  or  corporations 
get  the  courts  to  throw  their  influence  against  the  laboring 
man,  it  becomes  an  outrage  which  sooner  or  later  will 
result  in  revolution. 

Now  I  am  not  writing  you  as  an  official  of  the  govern- 
ment. I  am  writing  you  as  a  friend,  and  as  a  plain  Amer- 
ican citizen,  who  is  in  a  position  to  see  the  holes  in  the 
ladder.  I  do  not  want  to  be  wrong,  and  I  am  largely 
influenced  in  what  I  ultimately  conclude  to  be  right  by 
you. 

This  law  is  known  as  the  Erdman  act,  but  as  his  right- 
ful trophies,  Mr.  Moseley  received  and  treasured  the  pens 
with  which  Speaker  Reed  and  President  McKinley  signed 
the  bill.  The  representative  in  Washington  of  five 
railroad  brotherhoods,  Mr.  W.  F.  Hynes,  in  an  interview 
on  the  enactment  of  the  law,  said :  — 

Among  the  many  disinterested  persons  who  have  from 
pure  and  unselfish  motives  assisted  us  in  the  passage  of 
this  measure,  the  foremost,  the  ablest,  and  the  most  un- 
tiring in  his  efforts,  was  our  sincere  and  philanthropic 
friend,  the  Honorable  E.  A.  Moseley,  whose  labors  are 
appreciated  by  organized  railway  labor  all  over  the  United 
States. 

Mr.  Olney,  meanwhile,  had  retired  from  public  office, 
but  he  retained  his  active  interest  in  the  measure,  and 
when  its  passage  was  assured,  he  wrote  to  Mr.  Moseley : 
"The  bill  as  a  whole  is  a  better  bill  than  I  expected  you 


MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  151 

would  be  able  to  get  through  and  I  congratulate  you 
heartily  on  your  achievement. " 

One  section  as  drafted  by  Mr.  Olney,  but  omitted  from 
the  law,  is  highly  interesting  since  it  provided  that  when 
the  public  interests  were  threatened  with  irreparable 
damage,  the  government  could  step  in  and,  through  the 
courts,  take  the  roads  from  their  managers,  and  operate 
them  in  the  public  interest  until  such  time  as  the  strike 
or  dispute  was  settled ;  and  he  also  added  a  proviso  that 
the  use  of  the  courts  should  not  be  allowed  to  the  private 
individual  in  such  disputes,  but  that  action  should  be 
taken  only  by  the  President  of  the  United  States.  In 
other  words,  the  executive  could  employ  the  peaceful 
method  of  the  court,  as  he  now  under  similar  circumstances 
uses  the  military  forces  of  the  country. 

The  act  as  it  stands  is  more  than  an  arbitration  law. 
Carroll  D.  Wright,  then  commissioner  of  labor,  described 
it  as  " practically  a  bill  of  rights  for  labor."  To  meet 
the  situation  presented  in  the  Reading  case,  Mr.  Moseley 
incorporated  a  provision  to  the  effect  that  when  a  railroad 
is  in  the  hands  of  receivers,  the  representatives  of  the 
employees  shall  have  the  right  to  be  heard  in  court  upon 
conditions  of  employment,  and  no  reduction  in  wages 
may  be  made  by  a  receiver  without  due  notice  by  authority 
of  the  court. 

Much  to  his  disappointment,  one  other  feature  of  the 
law  in  which  he  was  deeply  interested  was  declared  to 
be  unconstitutional.  Many  railroad  men  engaged  in  the 
Strike  of  1894  had  been  unable  to  obtain  permanent  em- 
ployment again.  It  was  said  that  when  these  men  went 


152  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

to  railroad  officials  and  asked  for  certificates  of  good 
character,  if  they  received  any  recommendations  they 
were  of  a  kind  that  prevented  rather  than  aided  them  to 
get  places.  By  the  method  of  writing  the  certificate  or 
by  use  of  certain  water  marks  or  other  tricky  means,  the 
paper  amounted  to  a  notice  that  the  person  presenting 
it  was  on  the  black  list. 

To  meet  that  kind  of  persecution,  Mr.  Moseley  himself 
devised  section  ten  of  the  Arbitration  Law,  providing  a 
penalty  for  threatening  or  discriminating  against  any 
employee  because  of  membership  in  a  labor  organization. 
After  a  prolonged  contest  over  it,  the  provision  was 
declared  invalid  by  the  Supreme  Court  in  its  decision  in 
the  Adair  case,  as  being  in  conflict  with  the  Constitution. 
Mr.  Moseley  felt  that  the  court  had  overlooked  the 
peculiar  circumstances  of  a  railroad  man's  employment 
and  all  the  semipublic  responsibilities  attaching  to  it. 
In  reviewing  the  decision,  he  said :  — 

As  I  understand  it,  the  whole  scheme  of  the  Arbitration 
Law  was  for  two  purposes,  first,  to  avoid  strife  upon  lines 
of  carriers  engaged  in  interstate  commerce,  and,  second, 
to  find  a  peaceable  means  of  settling  difficulties  when  they 
arose.  That  the  law  has  resulted  in  great  advantage  to 
the  public  is  evidenced  by  the  fact  that  since  its  passage 
there  never  has  been  a  strike  upon  any  railroad  engaged 
in  interstate  commerce,  in  which  the  public  interests  were 
threatened ;  in  fact,  I  may  say  there  have  been  no  strikes. 

Congress  yearly  appropriates  $10,000  to  put  the  ma- 
chinery of  this  law  in  motion,  if  necessary.  One  of  the 
greatest  causes  of  strikes  and  dissatisfaction  was  the  dis- 
crimination against  members  of  labor  unions,  and  if  Con- 
gress has  power  to  deal  with  the  question  at  all,  it  cer- 
tainly seems  to  me  it  has  power  to  pass  such  measures  as 


MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  153 

are  deemed  advisable  and  essential  to  prevent  strikes, 
lock-outs,  and  such  dissatisfaction  as  will  cause  suffering 
to  the  public  by  reason  of  failure  to  have  themselves  and 
their  property  transported. 

The  unrest  among  our  people  seems  to  be  increasing, 
and  if  the  national  government  is  found  impotent  to  deal 
with  the  questions  which  are  going  to  arise,  every  man 
who  urges  that  this  and  similar  legislation  is  unconstitu- 
tional and  thereby  denies  federal  authority,  will  himself 
ultimately  suffer  by  the  disorganization  which  will  result. 

Some  very  learned  members  of  the  bar  shared  his  disap- 
pointment, and  to  one  of  the  most  eminent  he  wrote :  — 

I  send  you  an  opinion  of  the  court  in  the  so-called  Adair 
case.  While  I  bow  to  that  great  forum  of  all  knowledge, 
I  am  too  obtuse  to  follow  the  subtle  and  alleged  reasoning 
of  the  majority  of  the  court.  If  strikes  on  railroads  have 
got  nothing  to  do  with  interstate  commerce,  what  has? 
How  about  the  Lennon  case?  I  fear  the  court  has  not 
got  that  touch  upon  the  public  pulse  which  is  necessary 
for  them  to  realize  the  true  conditions  in  this  respect. 

It  was  only  within  a  month  that  Mr.  Mellen,  with 
great  gravity,  informed  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission that  if  the  New  York,  New  Haven  and  Hartford 
Road  should  stop  running  for  six  days  New  England  would 
starve.  His  statement  is  true  if  all  the  roads  running  in 
to  New  England  were  tied  up.  Anyway,  it  is  in  the  power 
of  the  railroad  employee  to  cause  untold  suffering  and 
distress. 

I  had  supposed  that  when  a  person  engaged  in  a  semi- 
public  employment,  like  that  of  the  railroad,  there  was 
an  obligation  upon  him  to  continue  his  work,  and  that  he 
could  not  instantly  leave  his  job  —  that  he  owed  a  duty  to 
the  public  that  even  transcended  his  own  special  whims 
and  desires ;  but  the  court  has  thrown  all  this  over. 

The  men  will  read  it  and  understand  that  they  may 
leave  their  train  between  stations  and  leave  the  passengers 
to  suffer  from  hunger  and  cold.  The  train  dispatcher, 
who  carries  in  his  head  the  trains  over  a  long  line  of  single 


154  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

track,  may  leave  his  key  and  it  is  perfectly  proper,  and 
he  has  the  endorsement  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  doing 
so,  and  yet  in  the  Lennon  case  a  man  was  put  in  jail  be- 
cause he  refused  to  haul  his  train  in  violation  of  the  order 
of  the  court.  It  is  in  my  humble  opinion  going  to  have  a 
bad  result,  as  an  encouragement  to  liberty  of  action  which 
will  result  in  license. 

The  benign  influence  of  the  Arbitration  Law,  as  a  whole, 
is  incalculable.  In  the  first  place  it  is  an  assertion  of  the 
public  interest  in  the  unobstructed  operation  of  the  rail- 
roads, and  in  the  next  place  it  is  an  ever  present  means 
of  harmonizing  differences  between  conflicting  interests. 

The  vital  provision  is  that  whenever  a  controversy 
arises  concerning  wages,  hours  of  labor,  or  conditions  of 
employment  between  a  carrier  and  its  employees,  seri- 
ously interrupting  or  threatening  to  interrupt  the  busi- 
ness of  the  carrier,  a  member  of  the  Court  of  Commerce 
or  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  and  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor  shall,  upon  the  request  of  either 
party  to  the  controversy,  with  all  practicable  expedition 
put  themselves  in  communication  with  both  parties  and 
shall  use  their  best  efforts  of  mediation  and  conciliation 
amicably  to  settle  the  dispute ;  and  if  such  efforts  shall 
be  unsuccessful,  shall  at  once  endeavor  to  bring  about  the 
arbitration  of  the  controversy  in  accordance  with  the 
provisions  of  the  act. 

It  is  more  than  remarkable  and  even  borders  upon  the 
marvelous,  that  since  1906  the  offer  of  mediation  by  the 
able  and  discreet  representatives  of  the  government  un- 
der the  act,  Judge  Martin  A.  Knapp  and  Commissioner 
Charles  P.  Neill,  has  not  been  definitely  rejected  in  any  case 


MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  155 

of  consequence  in  which  a  strike  was  seriously  threatened. 
They  have  often  been  engaged  in  accordance  with  the 
terms  of  the  law,  and  in  all  that  period  have  not  had  to 
report  a  single  failure  to  produce  an  amicable  settlement 
of  any  important  controversy.  The  law  has  thus  pre- 
vented what  might  have  been  irreparable  loss  and  in- 
jury to  the  country. 

Difficulties  have  been  repeatedly  and  quietly  settled 
under  the  terms  of  this  beneficent  statute.  There  are 
notable  instances,  which  show  the  practical  benefit  of 
the  legislation  and  which  are  known  to  the  public.  Dif- 
ferences arose  between  several  railroads  west  of  the 
Mississippi  and  their  employees  in  the  summer  of  1906, 
which  threatened  to  tie  up  all  the  great  transportation 
lines  of  that  section.  With  the  consent  of  both  sides,  the 
official  mediators  succeeded,  not  in  laying  down  rules 
for  the  guidance  of  the  parties  to  the  dispute,  but  in 
getting  the  parties  themselves  to  agree  by  compromise 
upon  conditions  which  were  found  satisfactory. 

Another  important  instance  of  the  same  kind  occurred 
during  the  spring  of  1908.  All  the  roads  south  of  the 
Ohio  and  east  of  the  Mississippi  had  posted  notice  of  a 
cut  in  wages  effective  thirty  days  later,  and  similar 
action  had  been  taken  by  several  lines  in  the  Northwest. 
Although  conferences  between  employers  and  employees 
continued  for  a  considerable  time,  the  employees  were 
unable  to  obtain  a  withdrawal  of  the  notice  of  reduction. 
President  Roosevelt,  therefore,  addressed  a  letter  to  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  asking  it  to  determine 
the  financial  condition  of  the  roads  which  had  posted 


156  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

the  notices  in  order  that  the  public  might  know  whether 
the  proposed  cut  was  necessary  or  justifiable. 

Following  that  action  by  the  President,  the  railroad 
companies  suspended  the  notices  and  submitted  the 
matter  to  the  official  mediators.  As  the  result  of  a  series 
of  conferences,  participated  in  by  the  representatives  of 
the  employees,  the  reduction  in  wages  both  in  the  North- 
west and  in  the  South  were  indefinitely  postponed. 

More  recently,  the  act  was  put  to  the  test,  in  1912,  in  a 
case  involving  the  interests  of  the  entire  country.  In 
this  instance,  the  locomotive  engineers  had  presented  a 
schedule  which  the  railroads  rejected.  The  newspapers 
were  filled  with  pessimistic  news  of  a  great  impending 
strike,  which  threatened  to  paralyze  the  commerce  of  the 
nation.  Neither  side  would  admit  that  there  was  room 
for  compromise,  and  each  refused  to  invoke  the  Arbi- 
tration Act.  Nevertheless  Judge  Knapp  and  Commis- 
sioner Neill,  the  government  mediators,  took  up  the  case 
informally,  and  this  manifestation  of  their  interest  in  a 
peaceable  settlement  served  to  center  public  opinion 
on  the  side  of  peace.  The  railroads  and  the  engineers 
felt  the  force  of  that  opinion,  and  resuming  the  negotia- 
tions which  had  been  abandoned  in  despair,  they  agreed 
upon  a  plan  of  arbitration.  A  still  later  case  is  that  of  the 
firemen,  whose  differences  with  some  fifty  railroad  com- 
panies gravely  threatened  all  the  country  east  of  the 
Mississippi  in  1913,  but  which  after  prolonged  negotia- 
tions were  submitted  to  arbitration  under  the  provisions 
of  the  act. 

The  law  applies  only  to  those  classes  of  employees 


MEDIATION  AND  ARBITRATION  157 

actually  engaged  in  train  operation,  and  since  1906  there 
has  been  no  serious  strike  among  them.  The  latest 
official  report,  prepared  by  Commissioner  Neill,  presents 
this  astonishing  record  of  five  years :  — 

The  controversies  which  have  been  brought  before  the 
mediators  have  ranged  in  importance  all  the  way  from  a 
few  instances  of  small  roads,  involving  less  than  100  miles 
of  line  and  fewer  than  100  employees,  up  to  cases  of  ex- 
ceptional magnitude,  embracing  over  50  roads  and  in- 
volving more  than  100,000  miles  of  line  and  over  40,000 
employees  in  a  single  controversy.  In  one  year,  1910,  the 
assistance  of  the  mediators  under  the  act  was  called  for 
in  sixteen  cases,  these  cases  involving  nearly  300,000 
miles  of  railroad  and  directly  involving  nearly  80,000 
railway  men.  The  total  mileage  involved  in  the  forty- 
eight  cases  in  which  the  provisions  of  the  law  have  been 
invoked  is  over  500,000  and  the  total  number  of  employees 
directly  involved  is  over  160,000. 

There  is  no  more  successful  act  than  this  on  the  statute 
books  of  the  United  States. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
THE  RAILROAD  BROTHERHOODS 

ALTHOUGH,  when  Mr.  Moseley  started  the  national 
movement  for  greater  safety  of  life  among  toilers  and 
travelers  on  railroads,  there  was  not  a  line  of  congres- 
sional legislation  in  their  behalf,  it  was  his  happy  fortune 
to  live  to  see  in  operation  an  elaborate  code  of  Federal 
acts  covering  nearly  every  phase  of  the  subject. 

The  Safety  Appliance  Statute  of  1893  was  the  pioneer 
and  parent  of  all  these  useful  laws.  In  promoting  the 
passage  and  enforcement  of  that  Act,  Mr.  Moseley  blazed 
the  way  for  the  legislation  that  has  followed.  It  was 
the  first  assertion  of  the  interest  and  authority  of  the 
Federal  Government  in  and  over  the  conditions  of  labor 
and  the  instrumentalities  of  transportation  on  interstate 
railroads.  The  long  and  brilliantly  successful  campaign 
which  Mr.  Moseley  led  in  the  establishment  of  that  Act 
was,  hi  effect,  a  campaign  of  education  for  the  enlighten- 
ment of  Congress  and  the  courts,  the  railroads  and  their 
employees  and  the  general  public  as  to  the  powers  and 
duties  of  the  National  Government  in  an  entirely  new 
field. 

When  he  began,  he  had  to  convince  even  the  officers  of 
the  railway  unions  that  congressional  legislation  in  behalf 

158 


THE  RAILROAD  BROTHERHOODS  159 

of  the  men  was  possible  and  worth  striving  for.  The 
brotherhoods  of  employees  had  no  permanent  represen- 
tation in  Washington  until  after  the  passage  of  the  Safety 
Appliance  Act,  although  they  had  sent  a  former  railroad 
commissioner  of  Iowa,  Mr.  L.  S.  Coffin,  to  represent  them 
temporarily,  and  he  cooperated  with  Mr.  Moseley. 

As  late  as  1894,  Mr.  Moseley  was  urging  upon  the 
brotherhood  leaders  the  necessity  of  having  "a  good  man 
here  to  push  things."  "It  will  be  necessary  to  be  con- 
stantly represented  here  for  the  next  month  or  six  weeks 
at  least,  and  I  think  it  would  be  economical  to  employ  a 
resident  attorney."  "I  can,"  he  added,  "see  him  every 
day,  every  hour  if  need  be,  and  consult  and  advise  with 
him  freely  as  to  every  step  taken."  He  was  at  that  par- 
ticular time  hoping  to  see  Congress  modify  the  injunction 
process  in  labor  disputes,  and  that  marked  the  beginning 
of  the  practice,  in  operation  ever  since,  of  having  repre- 
sentatives of  the  brotherhoods  in  Washington  to  look  after 
their  interests  in  Congress  and  before  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission. 

A  new  and  important  influence  was  thus  introduced,  on 
Mr.  Moseley's  motion,  at  the  capital  and  in  national 
politics,  an  element  which  now  makes  itself  felt  in  the 
halls  and  committee  rooms  of  Congress,  in  the  White 
House,  in  national  party  conventions,  and  in  national 
political  campaigns.  The  total  number  of  railroad 
employees  not  being  far  from  a  million  and  three  quarters, 
largely  voters,  and  at  least  a  third  of  them  in  the  brother- 
hoods, it  safely  may  be  said  that  there  is  hardly  another 
single  interest  in  the  country  with  equal  voting  strength. 


160  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

Combined,  they  alone  might  turn  a  presidential  election. 
As  this  new  factor  became  active  and  put  forth  its  efforts, 
leaders  in  Congress  displayed  an  increasing  intelligence 
and  sympathy  on  the  subject  of  railway  labor  legislation. 
When  Mr.  Roosevelt  suddenly  came  to  the  Presidency, 
after  an  era  of  extreme  conservatism  under  Presidents 
Cleveland  and  McKinley,  he  showed  a  readiness  to  take 
up  such  questions  and  throw  the  influence  of  the  admin- 
istration in  favor  of  advanced  measures,  which  had  re- 
ceived no  countenance  from  his  predecessors.  Mr.  Roose- 
velt had  not  been  in  the  White  House  a  month,  when 
Mr.  Moseley  wrote  to  the  late  Chief  Arthur  of  the  Brother- 
hood of  Locomotive  Engineers  :  — 

I  have  not  heard  from  you  for  some  time,  and  wish  you 
could  come  down  here  and  see  me.  I  have  been  over  to 
see  our  new  President  several  times  since  he  has  been 
President,  and  I  believe  you  will  find  him  very  much  in- 
terested in  anything  which  will  promote  the  welfare  of 
the  railroad  employees.  I  think  it  would  be  a  wise  thing 
for  the  heads  of  the  railway  labor  organizations  to  come 
here  and  call  upon  him  and  I  am  sure  they  will  receive 
a  cordial  reception.  I  have  known  him  for  twenty  years, 
and  if  you  will  come  down  I  shall  be  glad  to  go  over  with 
you. 

I  think  the  Safety  Appliance  Law  is  working  out  well. 
With  a  few  exceptions  among  the  railway  officials,  I 
think  all  are  now  working  to  a  common  end,  and  that  is 
the  highest  state  of  efficiency  in  safety  appliance  equip- 
ment attainable.  I  was  gratified  a  few  days  ago  to  hear 
one  of  the  leading  railway  attorneys  of  the  country  say 
that  the  benefits  of  the  law  had  been  forcibly  brought  to 
his  attention  by  the  fact  of  the  greatly  reduced  number  of 
suits  against  his  company  on  account  of  accidents  to 
employees.  He  said  it  is  astounding,  the  great  reduction 
which  has  taken  place  in  these  claims. 


THE  RAILROAD  BROTHERHOODS  161 

Afterward,  in  an  address  before  a  convention  of  fire- 
men, Mr.  Moseley  made  this  comment  on  the  surprise 
and  criticism  that  had  been  occasioned  by  the  appearance 
of  labor  representatives  at  the  White  House  :  — 

We  hear  of  the  great  banker,  the  railroad  magnate,  the 
man  who  has  acquired  immense  wealth  in  commercial 
pursuits,  being  entertained  at  the  White  House ;  and  the 
opinions  of  such  men  on  affairs  of  state  and  fiscal  affairs 
of  the  nation  are  given  the  greatest  weight.  Is  it  a  crime 
for  the  President  to  confer  with  other  men,  who  have 
their  individual  stake  in  the  body  politic? 

There  has  been  altogether  too  little  conference  with  the 
hosts  of  labor  in  the  past.  It  has  been  only  the  bankers 
and  business  magnates  whose  opinions  were  considered 
of  any  account  in  the  councils  of  the  nation.  But  there 
are  workingmen  who  are  as  capable  and  conservative 
advisers  as  these ;  their  interests  in  the  nation  are  fully 
as  important  as  the  interests  of  the  bankers,  and  they 
represent  the  men  who  go  to  make  up  the  majority  of  our 
people.  .  .  . 

Your  everyday  contracts  are  being  kept  sacred  by  you, 
although  many  of  them  bear  heavily  upon  the  men ;  but 
you  believe  that  when  a  contract  is  entered  into  it  must 
be  observed  until  it  expires.  .  .  .  There  is  nothing  but 
venom  and  injustice  in  this  attack,  and  no  man  should 
be  punished  simply  for  being  a  member  of  your  organiza- 
tion, for  showing  a  consideration  for  labor,  or  for  not 
inviting  the  counsel  of  its  representatives,  even  though 
he  be  the  president  of  the  United  States. 

Mr.  Moseley  not  only  brought  the  leaders  of  the  rail- 
road brotherhoods  in  contact  with  the  new  President  but 
with  the  successive  Attorney-Generals  of  the  Roosevelt 
administration  as  well.  He  no  longer  stood  alone  in 
official  Washington,  as  he  had  for  ten  or  a  dozen  years, 
and  no  longer  worked  under  cover  in  order  to  avoid  the 
fatal  antagonism  of  men  in  high  places.  His  one  time 

M 


162  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

hobby,  —  "Moseley's  hobby/'  -tolerated  when  it  was 
not  scorned  among  practical  politicians,  became  the 
fashion  at  the  capital,  where  formerly  he  took  his  official 
head  in  his  hand  every  time  he  appeared  at  the  Capitol. 
From  forwarding  a  friendless  cause,  he  now  found  his 
leadership  challenged  by  ambitious  converts  and  new 
recruits.  This  rivalry,  however,  troubled  him  not  at  all. 
On  the  contrary,  he  rather  welcomed  and  encouraged  it, 
as  he  adroitly  turned  it  to  account,  while  continuing  to 
pursue  his  policy  of  self-effacement.  A  close  observer 
gives  this  description  of  the  man  and  his  methods :  — 

Unlike  the  average  politician,  Mr.  Moseley  did  not 
employ  band  wagon  methods  in  his  work.  He  was  always 
seeking  results,  and  when  he  set  out  to  accomplish  a  cer- 
tain object,  he  seemed  to  lose  sight  entirely  of  the  personal 
element,  and  give  no  thought  to  the  question  of  credit  to 
himself.  In  that  respect  he  was  the  most  unselfish  in- 
dividual I  have  ever  known.  As  long  as  his  object  was 
accomplished  he  cared  nothing  whatever  about  where 
the  credit  was  given,  and  while  he  certainly  appreciated 
commendation  (as  every  human  being  does),  he  was 
always  ready  to  have  it  publicly  believed  that  the  credit 
for  his  work  was  due  to  one  of  his  instruments  rather  than 
to  himself. 

While  his  earnest  efforts  to  secure  justice  for  the 
workers  brought  upon  him  the  suspicions  and  attacks 
of  some  of  the  more  prejudiced  representatives  of  the 
railroad  corporations,  most  of  the  railroad  managers  and 
lawyers  with  whom  he  dealt  came  to  rely  upon  his  fair- 
ness toward  all  interests.  The  following  letter  from  one 
of  the  foremost  railroad  lawyers  is  expressive  of  this 
view :  — 


THE   RAILROAD   BROTHERHOODS  163 

CHICAGO,  MILWAUKEE  AND  ST.  PAUL  RAILROAD, 
LEGAL  DEPARTMENT. 

CHICAGO,  Nov.  21,  1897. 
DEAR  MR.  MOSELEY  : 

I  reached  here  last  night  after  a  stay  of  a  few  days  in 
New  York  and  Philadelphia.  On  the  way,  I  read  with 
great  interest  your  Boston  address  before  the  railway 
trainmen. 

If  everybody  would  take  as  sensible  a  view  of  labor 
unions  as  you  do  in  your  speech,  no  reasonable  man  would 
object.  I  was  much  interested  in  the  statistics  you  in- 
corporated in  your  remarks,  and  in  the  splendid  advice 
you  gave  the  members  of  the  organization.  I  think  we 
may  safely  conclude  that  labor  organizations  have  come 
to  stay,  and  that  the  duty  of  all  who  have  anything  to  do 
with  the  administration  of  railway  property  is  to  endeavor 
to  guide  the  organization  in  the  right  way,  and  that  is 
exactly  what  you  are  doing,  and  it  is  a  good  work.  .  .  . 

Yours  very  truly, 

GEO.  R.  PECK. 

Mr.  Moseley  kept  at  all  times  in  close  touch  with  the 
movements  of  the  brotherhoods,  and  was  a  safe  adviser 
in  many  of  the  grave  emergencies  confronting  the  organi- 
zations. Whenever  they  felt  they  were  in  any  manner 
abused  or  deprived  of  their  rights,  by  legislation  adverse 
to  their  interests,  or  by  judicial  decisions  believed  to  be 
unfair  to  them,  he  was  almost  the  first  man  in  the  country 
to  whom  an  appeal  was  made  for  advice  in  their  efforts 
to  sfecure  what  they  deemed  to  be  their  rights. 

He  had,  however,  his  differences  with  them,  for  he 
always  held  himself  the  servant  of  the  whole  public  rather 
than  of  any  one  interest,  and  he  worked  with  them  to  no 
small  and  narrow  purpose.  Occasions  arose  when  he 
exerted  himself  to  moderate  their  policies,  and  more 


164  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

than  once  he  found  himself  in  open  opposition  to  their 
plans. 

In  short,  he  was  as  independent  of  them  as  of  the  rail- 
road companies,  having  nothing  to  ask  of  them  for  him- 
self and  they  nothing  to  give  him,  although  at  times 
his  zeal  for  their  welfare  caused  a  few  of  their  represen- 
tatives to  act  as  if  they  were  doing  him  a  personal  favor 
in  cooperating  with  him. 

Mr.  W.  F.  Hynes,  who  represented  the  five  principal 
brotherhoods  in  Washington  in  1896,  writes  of  Mr. 
Moseley  and  his  relations  with  the  brotherhoods:  "He 
had  urged  upon  the  organizations  with  such  force  the 
necessity  of  such  legislation  on  this  (safety  appliances) 
and  kindred  subjects  that  they  finally  took  a  determined 
position  to  secure  such  laws,  and  strangely  enough  he 
was  opposed,  in  some  instances,  by  the  very  men  whom  he 
sought  to  relieve." 

Generally  it  was  only  the  inevitable  friction  between  the 
organizations,  jealousy  of  one  organization  toward  an- 
other, or  of  one  leader  toward  another,  which,  from  time 
to  time,  embarrassed  him  in  his  efforts  to  serve  all  and  to 
promote  the  good  of  humanity.  Of  the  American  Federa- 
tion of  Labor  he  wrote  in  1900,  "There  is  nothing  regard- 
ing the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  which  they  have 
not  done  all  they  could  to  prevent.  .  .  .  The  American 
Federation  of  Labor  wanted  to  kill  our  arbitration  bill." 

One  letter  written  by  Mr.  Moseley  in  1908  to  the  Brother- 
hood of  Railroad  Trainmen,  in  acknowledgment  of  com- 
mendatory resolutions,  is  expressive  of  his  friendly  and 
helpful  relations  with  the  organizations :  - — 


THE  RAILROAD  BROTHERHOODS  165 

June  23,  1905. 

MR.  A.  E.  KING,  Grand  Secretary  Brotherhood  of  Rail- 
road Trainmen,  Cleveland,  Ohio. 

DEAR  SIR  AND  BROTHER: 

Copies  of  resolution  sent  me  under  date  of  the  15th 
instant  have  been  received,  and  I  take  the  first  oppor- 
tunity to  acknowledge  them,  and  express  my  sincere  and 
heartfelt  thanks  to  the  members  of  the  convention  for 
the  resolution  concerning  myself. 

I  appreciate  this  evidence  of  good  feeling  on  the  part  of 
the  trainmen  more  than  words  can  express.  It  is  a  pleasure 
to  me  to  know  that  my  efforts  to  better  the  conditions  of 
labor  of  railroad  employees  have  borne  some  fruit,  and  it 
is  doubly  pleasant  to  receive  such  hearty  commendation 
from  the  trainmen  as  is  evidenced  by  this  resolution. 

We  have  traveled  a  long  and  difficult  road,  and  there 
have  been  times  when  it  seemed  as  though  the  battle 
would  surely  go  against  us,  but  the  cause  was  too  good  to 
be  finally  defeated,  and  in  line  with  the  progress  of  humani- 
tarian instincts  and  a  higher  type  of  civilization,  we 
have  triumphed  to  the  extent  that  the  principle  of  govern- 
ment control  and  regulation  of  the  conditions  of  railroad 
labor  is  now  so  firmly  established  that  it  can  never  more 
be  defeated.  It  is  now  too  late  for  any  backward  step, 
and  as.  it  is  against  all  nature  for  things  to  remain  sta- 
tionary it  is  absolutely  certain  that  we  must  go  forward. 

There  is  no  longer  any  question  about  the  matter  of 
safety  appliances.  .  .  .  The  next  forward  step  is  to  protect 
and  conserve  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  injured  em- 
ployee and  of  the  widows  and  orphans  of  those  who  go 
down  to  death.  This  can  only  be  done  by  statute,  along 
the  lines  suggested  in  my  public  address  at  Buffalo.  There 
is  no  greater  question  than  this  that  could  occupy  the 
attention  of  the  trainmen  to-day. 

Again  expressing  my  heartfelt  thanks  for  the  action  of 
your  convention,  and  with  kind  personal  regards  to  your- 
self and  Brother  Morrissey,  I  am, 

Fraternally  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


166  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Notwithstanding  occasional  and  only  momentary  dis- 
agreements, it  is  remarkable  how  long  and  well  Mr. 
Moseley  and  the  brotherhoods  worked  together,  and  it  is 
equally  creditable  to  their  loyalty  and  to  his  good  faith. 
Without  flattery,  it  may  be  said  that  the  members  of 
the  brotherhoods  are  of  the  very  highest  type  of  Ameri- 
can labor.  There  is  perhaps  no  other  great  group  of 
workmen  in  this  country  which  quite  equals  the  conductors 
and  engineers,  firemen,  brakemen,  telegraphers,  switch- 
men, roundhouse  men  and  all  having  to  do  with  the 
movement  of  trains,  in  intelligence,  zeal,  sobriety  and  the 
various  qualities  that  make  good  American  citizens. 
This  is  necessarily  so  from  the  nature  of  their  calling, 
where  every  man,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest  grade, 
is  responsible  for  the  safety  of  human  life.  Their  re- 
sponsibility is  outlined  by  Kipling  in  this  stanza :  — 

It  is  their  care  in  all  the  ages, 
To  take  the  buffet  and  cushion  the  shock ; 
It  is  their  care  that  the  gear  engages  ; 
It  is  their  care  that  the  switches  lock  ; 
It  is  their  care  that  the  wheels  run  truly ; 
It  is  their  care  to  embark  and  entrain; 
Tally,  transport,  and  deliver  duly, 
The  sons  of  Mary  by  land  and  main. 

Naturally  the  superior  character  of  the  rank  and  file  of 
railroad  men  is  reflected  in  the  men  who  rise  to  leadership 
among  them,  and  the  chiefs  and  other  officials  of  the 
brotherhoods  have  long  enjoyed  the  respect  and  confidence 
of  the  country.  These  were  Mr.  Moseley 's  coworkers 
for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  some  of  them  were  more  — 
they  were  his  friends. 


THE  RAILROAD  BROTHERHOODS  167 

He  was  a  strong  believer  in  the  incorporation  of  labor 
unions,  and  he  wrote  into  the  Arbitration  Bill  a  section 
designed  to  encourage  that  policy.  In  a  letter  to  one  of 
the  most  prominent  labor  leaders,  in  1908,  he  said :  - 

Ever  since  the  decision  in  the  Hatters'  case,  I  have  been 
greatly  troubled  by  thoughts  of  the  consequences  of  the 
action  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  have  cast  about  for 
means  of  finding  to  some  extent,  at  least,  a  measure  of 
relief. 

It  would  appear  that  it  is  unsafe  since  this  decision 
for  any  man  of  property  to  be  a  member  of  a  labor  or- 
ganization, because  he  is  liable  to  the  extent  of  his  financial 
ability  for  the  acts  of  any  member  of  the  organization. 
Again,  the  organizations  have  their  sick  benefits,  their 
death  benefits,  and  also  their  out-of-door  or  relief  funds, 
all  of  which  are  liable  at  any  time  to  be  seized  upon. 

I  am  aware  how  disinclined  organized  labor  is  to  in- 
corporate and  the  reasons  which  may  be  controlling  why 
they  should  not  incorporate,  but  it  does  seem  to  me 
that  the  national  incorporation  act  affords  a  measure  of 
relief  for  the  situation  which  now  confronts  them.  In- 
corporated, no  member  is  liable  for  the  acts  of  the  organ- 
ization ;  neither  is  the  organization  liable  for  the  acts  of 
any  of  its  members.  Mr.  Harriman  and  Mr.  Morgan  no 
doubt  belong  to  hundreds  of  corporations,  but  these  cor- 
porations can  do  anything  they  see  fit,  and  Harriman  and 
Morgan  are  not  liable.  Why  can't  labor  take  a  lesson 
from  the  capitalists  and  protect  themselves  in  the  same 
way?  .  .  . 

I  have  therefore  drawn  a  bill,  which  I  have  shown  to 
no  living  person  and  no  one  but  myself  knows  anything 
about.  If  it  is  of  any  use  to  you,  I  beg  of  you  to  use  it 
as  your  own.  My  only  desire  in  the  matter  is  to  have 
labor  protected.  We  can  never  get  through  such  laws 
as  they  have  in  Great  Britain  to  protect  labor,  because 
our  Supreme  Court  stands  as  a  barrier,  and  a  decision 
of  any  five  of  the  judges  can  at  any  time  overthrow  an  act 
of  Congress. 


168  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

When  the  constitutionality  of  the  section  of  the  Arbi- 
tration Bill  which  Mr.  Moseley  wrote  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  the  discharge  or  blacklisting  of  railroad  work- 
men because  of  their  membership  in  a  union  was  assailed 
in  the  now  well-known  Adair  case,  he  secured  the  inter- 
vention of  the  Government  in  the  defense  of  its  validity 
and  aided  the  department  of  justice  in  preparing  the  brief. 
He  fortified  himself  with  the  opinion  of  a  most  eminent 
lawyer,  a  former  Attorney-General,  who  advised  him  that 
"  human  beings  are  among  the  instrumentalities  of  Inter- 
state Commerce  as  much  as  cars,  locomotives,  automatic 
brakes  and  other  inanimate  things.  The  character 
and  qualifications  of  the  persons  engaged  in  such  com- 
merce are  most  important,  both  as  regards  its  efficient 
conduct  and  as  regards  the  safety  of  travelers.  In  the 
non-discriminatory  rule  under  consideration,  Congress 
must  be  held  to  have  had  precisely  those  considerations 
in  mind.  It  must  be  taken  to  have  thought  that  national 
carriers  could  not  exclude  from  employment  union  laborers 
without  detriment  to  the  service  —  without  barring  out 
a  class  of  employees  who  might  be  and  probably  would 
be  among  the  best  fitted  for  the  work  to  be  done." 

While  the  Adair  case  was  on,  the  following  letter  was 
written,  under  date  of  November  13,  1906,  to  a  corre- 
spondent of  the  Chicago  Tribune  by  a  high  official  of  the 
Government,  outside  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission :  — 

I  have  been  reading  your  excellent  letter  in  Monday's 
Tribune  —  all  of  your  letters  are  excellent  —  and  I  note 
that  you  give  me  the  credit  for  having  brought  to  the 


THE  RAILROAD  BROTHERHOODS  169 

attention  of  the  Attorney-General,  the  Louisville  and 
Nashville  case  in  which  the  Attorney-General  intervened. 

This  was  good  of  you,  and  I  appreciate  it  very  much. 
I  know  that  you  always  want  to  do  the  right  thing  by 
the  right  man,  but  in  this  case  you  have  done  the  right 
thing  by  the  wrong  man.  The  entire  credit  for  this 
excellent  piece  of  work  is  due  to  my  worthy  friend,  the 
Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  Hon- 
orable Edward  A.  Moseley,  who  was  fighting  the  stormy 
and  thankless  battle  of  the  wageworker  before  you  and 
I  were  born,  and  who,  although  his  hair  is  getting  both 
gray  and  scant  on  the  forward  part  of  his  head,  and  who, 
although  he  is  laying  on  the  adipose  tissue  that  comes  with 
advancing  years,  is  still  fighting  the  good  fight  as  ener- 
getically, as  intelligently,  and  successfully  as  ever. 

No  man  in  the  United  States  has  done  more  in  the  in- 
terest of  the  man  who  works  with  his  hands  than  Moseley. 
This  is  simply  one  of  his  many  successful  jobs,  and  I 
would  not  wish  for  a  moment  to  get  the  credit  for  it.  If 
I  had  known  of  it,  I  would  have  done  just  what  Moseley 
did,  but  the  difficulty  is  that  one  must  get  up  very  early 
to  do  more  in  this  cause  than  Moseley.  He  has  no  re- 
lation whatever  with  a  man  who  brings  crowds  from 
England  over  here,  and,  although  I  suspect  his  bank  ac- 
count entitles  him  to  rank  amongst  the  plutocracy,  his 
mind  and  his  heart,  together  with  all  the  parts  of  his 
anatomy,  are  with  the  common  people  like  ourselves. 

Greatly  to  Mr.  Moseley 's  disappointment,  the  Supreme 
Court  declared  the  section  void  as  in  conflict  with  the 
Constitution.  He  thrived  on  disappointment,  however, 
and  what  would  have  been  discouragements  to  other 
natures  only  gave  him  added  zest  for  the  strife.  "I  am 
the  same  old  two  and  six  pence/'  he  wrote  a  friend  in  a 
foreign  country,  "  plugging  along,  fighting  the  battles  as 
well  as  I  can  for  the  fellow  that  wears  a  blouse  and  lugs 
a  dinner  pail." 


CHAPTER  XVIII 
HEROES  IN  OVERALLS 

IN  his  arguments  for  protective  legislation  for  railroad 
workers,  Mr.  Moseley  was  in  the  habit  of  comparing  the 
hazards  of  their  calling  with  the  perils  of  sailors,  which 
had  been  made  more  real  to  the  public  imagination  by  the 
classics  of  literature,  and  which  he  himself  had  faced  in 
his  youth. 

As  early  as  1894,  in  a  speech  delivered  at  the  convention 
of  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Firemen  at  Harrisburg, 
on  September  10  of  that  year,  he  said :  — 

Our  Girards,  our  Coopers,  our  Astors,  and  some  few  of 
our  other  millionaires,  beneficiaries  of  honest  toilers' 
labor,  have  given  of  their  wealth  for  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  to  aid  human  advancement.  The  nation  honors 
them,  and  from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other  their 
praises  are  sung  and  echoed  down  the  ages,  while  their 
deeds  are  engraved  upon  monumental  marble  and  granite. 
But  Bill  Smith  or  Tom  Jones  —  the  man  who  gives  his 
life,  worth  more  to  him  than  all  the  millions  in  the  world 
—  freely  offers  it  in  the  cause  of  humanity  —  the  man  who 
stands  at  his  post  while  the  flames  slowly  roast  him  to 
death,  stands  there  because  the  lives  of  others  depend' 
upon  him  —  is  a  hero  whose  sacrifice  is  a  thousand  times 
greater  than  that  of  all  the  men  who  give  mere  money. 
Still  he  generally  fills  an  unremembered  grave,  and  leaves 
no  memory  of  his  noble  acts  behind  him,  save  in  the 
hearts  of  his  sympathetic  fellow-workers  and  kindred 
souls  that  appreciate  true  heroism  in  whatever  sphere 
exhibited. 

170 


HEROES  IN  OVERALLS  171 

Within  the  last  few  days  we  have  read  of  destructive 
forest  fires  throughout  several  of  the  great  western  states. 
A  train  was  sent  down  the  line  of  the  road.  It  ran  quickly 
into  the  timber  lands;  great  clouds  of  smoke  enveloped 
it ;  flames  licked  their  way  to  the  roadbed ;  but  the  little 
band  of  rescuers  rode  on  —  into  the  yawning,  devouring 
furnace  —  not  for  money,  but  for  love  of  their  fellow-men. 
They  went  to  save,  and  nobly  did  they  do  the  work ! 
Ever  and  anon  the  train  stopped  to  take  on  board  some 
fainting  woman  with  a  babe  clutched  to  her  breast ;  some 
men  made  mad  by  the  awful  race  with  fire  —  on,  on  they 
went,  never  faltering ;  and  at  last  with  wheels  welded  to 
axles,  with  the  woodwork  of  the  cars  aflame  and  charred, 
with  the  engine  cab  entirely  burned  away,  that  train 
reached  safety  —  that  train  manned  by  kings  —  Ameri- 
can railway  men  —  heroes  every  one,  and  their  deed  has 
forced  the  admiration  of  the  civilized  world. 

That  engineer  has  made  the  name  of  Root  immortal, 
but  who  was  that  other  on  that  cabless  engine,  that  man 
who  fought  fire  with  fire,  who  hurled  fuel  to  the  hungry 
furnace  flames  that  fire  might  save  from  fire,  sobbing,  gasp- 
ing, not  through  fear,  but  from  the  agony  of  living  death, 
never  deserting  his  post,  leaping  now  and  again  into  the 
water  tank  to  extinguish  the  fire  from  his  body,  or  to  dash 
water  on  the  engineer  —  who  was  this  who  shoveled  coal 
while  burning  death  was  creeping  o'er  him  inch  by  inch, 
happy  that  his  life  could  be  given  in  exchange  for  the  lives 
of  suffering  women  and  innocent  children  ?  We  know  the 
engineer's  name.  Tell  us,  who  can,  the  name  of  this 
fireman  ?  Let  it  be  enshrined  in  the  hearts  of  his  country- 
men and  enrolled  with  the  names  of  the  world's  greatest 
heroes. 

Take  up  the  daily  papers  any  day  and  you  will  find  evi- 
dences of  heroism,  bravery,  and  self-sacrifice  on  the  part 
of  those  employed  on  or  about  the  railroads  of  our  coun- 
try. The  Congress  of  the  United  States  freely  gives  of 
the  people's  money  over  a  million  dollars  a  year  to  support 
the  life-saving  stations  upon  our  coasts.  On  those  of  her 
citizens  who,  by  self-sacrifice,  risk,  bravery,  daring  upon 
the  sea  merit  it,  the  country  bestows  her  medals,  signifying 
her  appreciation  of  gallant  deeds.  And  worthy  is  the 


172  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

object.  But  why  limit  this  to  the  sea  ?  Should  not  those 
who  have  been  equally  true  upon  land  receive  some  mark 
of  appreciation  of  their  country  ?  To  secure  the  Cross  of 
the  Legion  of  Honor  is  the  fond  dream  of  every  true 
Frenchman's  heart.  Let  us  have  our  company  of  heroes. 

In  Mr.  Moseley's  ceaseless  agitation  for  measures  to 
meet  more  urgent  and  practical  needs,  this  sentimental 
suggestion  was  neglected  for  several  years,  but  it  was 
not  forgotten.  At  last  he  gave  the  idea  form  in  a  bill 
which  he  drafted  and  which  was  introduced  in  Congress. 
At  a  hearing  before  the  Senate  committee  on  interstate 
commerce  in  February,  1905,  he  appeared  and  made  an 
interesting  and  feeling  argument  in  its  support. 

He  pointed  out,  that  in  1876,  Congress  had  made  pro- 
vision for  bestowing  medals  upon  men  who  endangered 
their  lives  in  endeavoring  to  save  lives  at  sea,  and  he  asked 
support  for  the  bill  providing  medals  for  those  "  saving 
or  endeavoring  to  save  lives  from  any  wreck,  disaster, 
or  grave  accident,  or  in  preventing  or  endeavoring  to 
prevent  such  wreck,  disaster,  or  grave  accident  upon  any 
railroad  within  the  United  States  engaged  in  interstate 
commerce."  He  told  again  the  story  of  Root,  the  brave 
engineer  of  the  relief  train  in  the  Wisconsin  forest  fire, 
and  he  told  other  stories  of  daring  on  the  rail :  — 

Was  greater  courage  ever  manifested,  than  that  of  the 
locomotive  engineer,  Joseph  Lutz?  A  flue  burst,  filling 
his  cab  with  scalding  white-hot  steam,  while  his  express 
train  was  at  full  speed.  He  did  not  jump ;  he  stuck  to 
his  post,  while  the  flesh  was  cooked,  and  peeled  from  his 
hands  and  face  and  body  !  He  stopped  his  train  and 
saved  his  passengers,  but  he  is  crippled  for  life.  .  .  . 

Who  remembers  the  heroic  deed  of  the  humble  switch- 


HEROES  IN  OVERALLS  173 

man,  Timothy  Quinlan,  who  gave  up  his  life  on  February 
27,  1904,  in  saving  the  Lake  Shore  Limited  and  its  cargo 
of  human  freight  from  destruction  ?  The  train  was  bear- 
ing down  upon  an  open  switch  at  lightning  speed;  an 
awful  catastrophe  seemed  inevitable;  Quinlan  saw  the 
danger,  and  while  there  was  not  one  chance  in  a  thousand 
that  he  would  be  able  to  avert  the  impending  catastrophe 
without  sacrificing  his  own  life,  he  hesitated  not  an  instant. 
He  reached  the  open  switch,  and  threw  it,  fairly  under  the 
pilot  of  the  onrushing  engine. 

The  train  with  its  precious  human  cargo  rushed  on  in 
safety,  but  what  of  brave  Timothy  Quinlan  !  The  mo- 
mentum of  the  train  was  so  great  that  it  picked  up  his  body 
and  fairly  threw  it  on  an  adjoining  track  directly  in  front 
of  a  moving  engine,  and  in  an  instant  all  that  remained  of 
brave  Timothy  Quinlan  was  a  mangled,  bleeding  mass  of 
human  flesh  and  bones. 

Among  the  railroad  employees  examples  of  heroism  of 
the  highest  type  are  of  almost  daily  occurrence  and  might 
be  multiplied  indefinitely.  That  there  is  need  for  some 
such  measure  as  this  bill  proposes  will  be  almost  univer- 
sally conceded.  Mr.  Carnegie  has  recently  established  a 
hero  fund  to  cover  cases  of  individual  heroism,  and  his 
action  is  commendable  in  the  highest  degree.  It  does  not, 
however,  seem  appropriate  that  cases  of  conspicuous 
bravery  in  a  distinctly  public  service  should  be  left  to  be 
rewarded  by  private  parties.  There  ought  to  be  some 
public  recognition  and  public  record  of  these  matters, 
such  as  this  bill  proposes. 

In  his  last  message  to  Congress,  the  President  recom- 
mended such  legislation  in  the  following  language  :  "The 
Government  has  recognized  heroism  upon  the  water,  and 
bestows  medals  of  honor  upon  those  persons  who  by  ex- 
treme and  heroic  daring  have  endangered  their  lives  in 
saving  or  endeavoring  to  save  lives  from  the  perils  of  the 
sea  in  the  waters  over  which  the  United  States  has  juris- 
diction, or  upon  an  American  vessel.  This  recognition 
should  be  extended  to  cover  cases  of  conspicuous  bravery 
and  self-sacrifice  in  the  saving  of  life  in  private  employ- 
ments under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United  States,  and 
particularly  in  the  land  commerce  of  the  nation." 


174  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

I  am  not  here  to  represent  any  particular  person  or 
interest,  but  I  have  made  a  study  of  this  subject  for  nearly 
twenty  years,  and  as  the  President  has  called  attention  to 
it,  the  time  now  seems  opportune  to  ask  for  this  legislation. 
I  want  to  say  that  I  have  had  some  experience  in  these 
matters,  for  when  a  boy  of  sixteen  I  had  already  crossed 
the  Equator  four  times  in  the  forecastle  of  an  East  In- 
diaman,  and,  having  been  reared  upon  the  seacoast,  I 
know  something  about  the  perils  of  the  deep,  and  have 
experienced  that  sentiment  of  awe  with  which  most  per- 
sons contemplate  the  vastness  and  power  of  the  sea. 

I  have,  therefore,  no  desire  to  detract  in  any  manner 
from  the  brave  deeds  of  those  who  have  distinguished 
themselves  upon  the  water,  but  there  are  other  brave  men 
daily  performing  acts  of  self-sacrificing  heroism  all  over 
our  country  —  men  who  are  as  worthy  as  our  heroes  of 
the  sea,  but  who  are  debarred  from  receiving  public  rec- 
ognition of  deeds  of  the  most  sublime  heroism.  It  seems 
to  me  that  public  recognition  of  such  matters  should  not 
be  confined  to  those  who  have  won  the  title  of  hero  upon 
the  waters  over  which  the  United  States  has  jurisdiction 
or  upon  the  battle  field.  The  Government  should  be  will- 
ing to  give  its  medals  also  to  those  who  have  distinguished 
themselves  in  the  land  commerce  of  the  nation.  The 
spirit  in  which  I  advocate  this  measure  is  well  expressed 
by  Mr.  Cy  Warman,  the  railroad  poet  and  writer,  in  the 
following  verses :  — 

Now  that  we've  scattered  the  flowers  of  May 
Over  the  graves  of  the  blue  and  the  gray  — 
Over  the  graves  where  the  women  weep, 
Over  the  mounds  where  the  heroes  sleep  — 
Now,  let  us  turn  to  the  graves  of  those 
Who  have  lived  and  died  in  their  overclothes. 

Are  they  not  heroes  ?    Have  they  not  died 

Under  their  engines,  side  by  side  ? 

Have  they  not  stood  by  the  throttle  and  brake 

And  gone  down  to  death  for  their  passengers'  sake  ? 

Calm,  undisturbed  is  the  peaceful  repose 

Of  the  men  who  have  died  in  their  overclothes. 

We  would  not  take  from  the  soldier's  grave 
Not  even  the  blades  of  grass  that  wave, 


HEROES   IN   OVERALLS  175 

Nor  would  we  ask  you  to  hand  us  down 
A  single  star  from  the  soldier's  crown  ; 
All  honor  to  them ;  but  forget  not  those 
Who  have  lived  and  died  in  their  overclothes. 

We  would  take  nothing  from  the  heroes  the  nation  al- 
ready honors.  We  would  simply  ask  that  other  heroes 
who  are  equally  worthy  be  also  honored.  A  measure 
such  as  this  should  call  forth  a  hearty  response,  and  I 
respectfully  urge  upon  the  committee  the  favorable  con- 
sideration of  this  bill. 

In  promoting  the  passage  of  the  Medal  Bill,  Mr. 
Moseley  ordered  from  one  of  the  journals  of  the  railroad 
brotherhoods  a  number  of  copies  of  an  article  narrating 
a  brave  deed,  and  this  transaction  led  to  the  following 
correspondence :  — 

OFFICE  OF  GEAND  LODGE,  SWITCHMEN'S  UNION  OF 

NORTH  AMERICA, 
326  Mooney  Bldg.,  Buffalo,  N.Y., 

March  6,  1905. 
EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  ESQ., 

Secretary,  Interstate  Commerce  Commission, 
Washington,  B.C. 

DEAR  SIR  AND  BROTHER: 

On  my  return  from  the  west  recently,  I  learned  that 
you  had  requested  copies  of  the  letter  published  in  our 
Journal  for  Hon.  T.  V.  Powderly,  relative  to  a  hero  who 
was  a  member  of  this  union  and  who  sacrificed  his  life  for 
the  sake  of  humanity  at  Cleveland,  Ohio,  and  that  while 
there  was  some  expense  incurred  in  connection  with  the 
publication  of  the  articles  and  it  being  forwarded  to  you, 
our  editor,  Mr.  Cassidy,  sent  with  the  documents  a  bill 
to  you  for  the  same. 

Let  me  explain  that  Mr.  Cassidy  did  not  know  of  the 
fact  that  you  are  annually  spending  thousands  of  dollars 
of  your  own  money  for  the  purpose  of  protecting  the  lives 
of  railroad  men,  and  had  he  known  it  he  would  have, 
instead  of  sending  a  bill  to  you,  presented  it  to  the  grand 


176  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

board,  which  was  afterwards  done ;  and  by  this  time  you 
have  had,  no  doubt,  the  amount  remitted  to  you,  which 
I  hope  will  be  satisfactory,  and  that  you  will  have  no  un- 
kind feelings  towards  this  union  because  of  the  presenting 
of  the  bill.  Had  I  been  here  at  the  time  the  request  was 
received,  this  mistake  would  not  have  been  made,  and  I 
again  assure  you  Mr.  Cassidy  meant  no  offense  whatever 
in  sending  it,  as  he  believed  the  expense  would  be  borne 
by  the  Commission,  and  not  by  you  individually. 
I  am,  with  best  wishes  for  your  success, 

Fraternally  yours, 
F.  T.  HAWLEY, 

Grand  Master. 

March  10,  1905. 

MR.  F.  T.  HAWLEY,  Grand  Master,  Switchmen's  Union 
of  North  America, 

326  Mooney  Bldg.,  Buffalo,  N.Y. 

DEAR  BRO.  HAWLEY: 

I  am  more  than  surprised  at  your  letter.  To  think  for 
one  moment  that  I  had  a  feeling  about  the  union  present- 
ing me  a  bill  for  those  leaflets  of  Powderly's  tribute  to 
Timothy  Quinlan  as  being  other  than  just  and  right  never 
entered  my  head.  I  was  only  too  glad  to  have  them  and 
looked  upon  the  whole  matter  as  a  favor.  There  was 
every  reason  why  I  should  pay  for  them,  and  I  thought  it 
only  natural  that  the  bill  should  be  sent.  I  wanted  the 
leaflets  to  distribute  among  members  of  Congress. 

I  send  you  a  copy  of  the  law.  The  President  signed  the 
bill  and  sent  me  the  pen.  I  have  been  advocating  such 
a  measure  for  years  and  am  delighted  with  the  result. 

I  have  just  written  to  Bro.  Cassidy  asking  him  if  Tim- 
othy Quinlan  did  not  leave  a  mother,  wife,  or  sister  who 
had  depended  upon  him  for  support.  It  seems  to  me  that 
I  could  make  no  better  use  of  the  check,  which  was  so 
kindly  returned  to  me,  than  to  send  it  to  his  widow  or 
mother  or  some  relative  of  his.  If  you  can  inform  me  of 
the  proper  person,  I  will  write  her  a  nice  letter  and  trans- 
mit it  and  the  check  through  you.  Poor  man,  he  met  a 
noble  death,  and  in  doing  so  has  called  attention  in  a  most 


HEROES  IN  OVERALLS  177 

forcible  way  to  the  intrepidity,  courage  and  heroism  of 
the  class  of  men  represented.  I  believe  his  death  was 
not  in  vain. 

With  all  cordial  regards  to  you  and  your  associates, 
I  am  as  ever, 

Fraternally  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

The  bill  having  become  a  law,  the  following  letter 
notes  the  next  step  :  — 

THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON, 
March  30,  1905. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  MOSELEY: 

I   send   you   herewith   the  regulations   governing  the 
award  of  life-saving  medals  under  the  provisions  of  the 
Act  of  Congress  approved  February  23,  1905,  together 
with  the  pen  with  which  the  President  signed  them. 
Very  truly  yours, 

WM.  LOEB,  JR. 

Secretary  to  the  President. 

In  the  regulations,  the  President  directed  that  appli- 
cations for  medals  should  be  addressed  to  and  filed  with 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  Satisfactory  evi- 
dence of  the  facts  must  be  filed  in  each  case  in  the  form  of 
affidavits  made  by  eyewitnesses,  of  good  repute  and 
standing,  testifying  of  their  own  knowledge.  The  opin- 
ion of  witnesses  that  the  person,  for  whom  an  award  is 
sought,  acted  with  extreme  daring  and  endangered  his 
life  is  not  sufficient,  but  the  affidavits  must  set  forth  the 
facts  in  detail  and  show  clearly  in  what  manner  and  to 
what  extent  life  was  endangered  and  extreme  daring 
exhibited.  The  railroad  upon  which  the  incident  occurred, 
the  date,  time  of  day,  condition  of  weather,  the  names  of 


178  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

all  person  present,  when  practicable,  and  other  pertinent 
circumstances  should  be  stated. 

The  affidavits  should  be  made  before  an  officer  duly 
authorized  to  administer  oaths  and  be  accompanied  by 
the  certificate  of  some  United  States  official  of  the  district 
in  which  the  affiants  reside,  such  as  a  judge  or  clerk  of 
United  States  Court,  District  Attorney,  or  Postmaster,  to 
the  effect  that  the  affiants  are  reputable  and  credible 
persons.  If  the  affidavits  are  taken  before  an  officer 
without  an  official  seal,  his  official  character  must  be 
certified  by  the  proper  officer  of  a  court  of  record,  under 
the  seal  thereof. 

At  the  President's  request,  Mr.  Moseley  had  a  medal 
designed,  the  artist  being  Mr.  Adoiph  Weinman  of  New 
York.  President  Roosevelt  continued  to  take  a  lively 
interest  in  the  project,  and  suggested  some  changes  in 
the  design  of  the  medal  and  of  the  button  which  a  medalist 
is  entitled  to  wear.  The  following  letter  properly  forms  a 
part  of  the  record  of  this  piece  of  legislation :  — 

July  17,  1906. 

HON.  JAMES  R.  MANN,  M.C., 
Chicago,  Illinois. 

DEAR  MR.  MANN  : 

I  have  sent  you  by  Adams  express  a  replica  of  the  design 
for  the  medal  of  honor  which  is  to  be  awarded  those  who 
distinguish  themselves  by  exceptional  heroism  in  the  sav- 
ing of  life  upon  railroads,  which  I  wish  you  to  accept  with 
my  compliments. 

I  feel  that  this  small  measure  of  recognition,  at  least,  is 
due  you  for  the  great  interest  you  took  in  this  measure  in 
Congress.  You  introduced  the  bill,  reported  it  from  the 
committee  on  interstate  and  foreign  commerce,  and  put 
it  through  the  House.  Your  report  was  an  earnest  and 


HEROES  IN  OVERALLS  179 

convincing  plea  for  recognition  by  the  General  Government 
of  the  heroism  of  railroad  employees,  and  I  feel  that  the 
railroad  men  of  the  country  owe  you  a  debt  of  gratitude 
for  your  untiring  efforts  in  their  behalf,  to  the  end  that 
they  should  receive  the  same  sort  of  recognition  for  hero- 
ism as  the  Government  has  long  given  to  those  who  ex- 
hibit extraordinary  bravery  on  the  waters  under  the  ju- 
risdiction of  the  United  States.  .  .  . 

With  kindest  wishes,  and  trusting  that  the  replica  will 
reach  you  in  good  condition,  I  am, 

Sincerely  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

Mr.  Moseley,  and  the  committee  of  award  acting  with 
him,  passed  favorably  on  thirteen  applications  for  medals. 
A  brief  condensation  of  the  reports  on  file  must  suffice 
to  indicate  the  worthy  character  of  the  deeds  which,  under 
the  law,  have  found  recognition  from  the  nation :  — 

George  Poell,  Grand  Island,  Nebraska,  a  fireman  on  a 
freight  train,  saw  a  little  child  on  the  track  between  the 
rails ;  he  went  out  the  front  window  of  the  cab,  along  the 
running  board,  and  down  to  the  step  of  the  pilot  on  the 
front  end  of  engine ;  he  grasped  the  pilot  brace  with  his 
right  hand  and  leaned  as  far  forward  as  possible  so  as  to 
grasp  the  child  with  his  left  and  swing  it  out  of  the 
way  when  the  engine  reached  it.  He  accomplished  this 
feat  successfully,  but  in  swinging  the  child  out  of  the  way 
its  body  struck  him  with  such  force  as  to  cause  him  to 
lose  his  footing ;  he  fell,  and  his  left  foot  was  torn  from 
the  leg,  both  his  arms  were  broken,  and  his  face  and  body 
terribly  bruised  and  lacerated.  The  child  was  found  to  be 
uninjured  beyond  the  shock  and  a  slight  bruise.  Medal 
awarded,  December  21,  1905. 

Charles  W.  Haight,  Utica,  New  York,  a  locomotive 
engineer,  discovered  a  little  child  between  the  rails;  he 
went  out  on  the  running  board  and  down  to  the  pilot,  but 
in  grasping  the  child  its  head  struck  him  on  the  breast 


180  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

with  considerable  force,  bearing  him  backward  upon  the 
pilot  beam,  where  he  had  great  difficulty  in  hanging  on 
with  his  burden  in  his  arm  until  the  train  came  to  a  stop 
and  the  brakeman  assisted  him  to  the  ground.  Medal 
awarded,  June  21,  1906. 

George  H.  Williams,  Braintree,  Massachusetts,  an  en- 
gineer, after  bringing  his  train  to  a  stop  at  Quincy  station, 
saw  a  woman  and  girl  running  to  cross  the  other  track  and, 
realizing  that  they  would  not  have  time  to  cross  ahead  of 
an  approaching  train,  he  jumped  from  his  engine  and  ran 
toward  them  with  the  idea  of  assisting  them,  at  the  same 
time  calling  out  to  warn  them  of  their  danger.  The  girl, 
being  in  the  lead,  and  more  nimble  than  her  mother,  got 
safely  across,  but  the  mother  only  got  on  the  track,  when 
she  was  arrested  by  the  gate  tender,  who  pulled  her  back 
from  the  train.  At  the  same  instant  Williams  reached  her 
in  his  attempt  to  shove  her  back,  but  he  did  not  have  time 
to  get  entirely  across  the  track  before  the  train  reached 
him.  He  was  struck  by  the  locomotive  and  thrown  a 
distance  of  about  twenty  feet,  sustaining  severe  injuries, 
which  necessitated  his  removal  to  the  hospital,  and  he 
was  unable  to  resume  his  regular  duties  until  about  three 
months  after  the  accident.  Medal  awarded,  June  21, 1906. 

Edward  Murray,  Pittsburg,  freight  conductor,  was  rid- 
ing on  the  footboard  on  the  rear  end  of  the  tender,  as  the 
engine  approached  a  street  crossing;  two  children,  aged 
two  and  four  years,  stepped  upon  the  track.  The  engine 
was  almost  upon  them.  Murray,  in  utter  disregard  of 
his  own  safety,  leaped  from  the  footboard  in  front  of  the 
moving  engine,  lifted  one  child  clear  of  the  rails,  and 
grasping  the  other  in  his  arms  stepped  on  the  footboard 
of  the  engine  just  in  time  to  escape  being  run  down  and 
crushed  beneath  the  wheels.  Medal  awarded,  October  23, 
1906. 

In  Parsons,  Pennsylvania,  while  on  his  way  to  school, 
a  Polish  lad  about  twelve  years  of  age,  in  walking  on  the 
track,  caught  his  foot  in  a  frog ;  at  the  same  time  a  pas- 
senger train  was  rapidly  approaching.  Edgar  E.  George, 
a  stenographer,  managed  to  reach  the  boy  in  advance  of 


HEROES  IN  OVERALLS  181 

the  train,  but  was  unable  to  release  his  foot.  The  train  was 
almost  upon  him,  and  it  seemed  as  if  nothing  could  pre- 
vent the  boy  from  being  mangled  to  death,  but  instead  of 
leaving  the  lad  to  his  fate  and  looking  out  for  his  own 
safety,  George  quickly  sprang  to  one  side,  and  with  his 
left  arm  bore  the  boy's  body  down  as  far  as  the  outer  rail 
would  permit  and  with  his  right  arm  forced  the  imprisoned 
leg  under  the  cylinder,  journal  boxes  and  steps,  which 
scraped  their  bodies  as  they  came  along.  The  engineer 
did  not  succeed  in  stopping  the  train  until  the  engine  and 
one  coach  had  passed  over  Mr.  George  and  the  boy,  when 
the  boy  was  found  safe  in  George's  arms.  Medal  awarded, 
June  8,  1907. 

A  passenger  train  arrived  at  the  bridge  which  spans  the 
Cumberland  River  at  Clarksville,  Tennessee.  The  draw 
was  open  at  the  time,  but  the  engineer  failed  to  stop  his 
train,  with  the  result  that  the  locomotive  and  the  mail  and 
baggage  cars  plunged  into  the  river.  The  engineer  was 
killed.  Two  mail  clerks  were  in  the  mail  cars  at  the  time, 
and  the  baggageman  was  in  his  car.  Although  seriously  in- 
jured, they  managed  to  break  their  way  out  and  get  on  top 
of  the  cars. . . .  The  river  was  at  flood  stage,  with  a  seven 
or  eight  mile  current,  and  full  of  drift.  It  was  also  quite 
dark  at  the  time  of  the  accident,  and  the  river  was  in  such 
condition  that  it  was  considered  unsafe  to  run  the  ferry 
boat,  which  crosses  a  short  distance  below  the  place  where 
the  accident  occurred.  A  number  of  persons  saw  the- 
cars  floating  down  the  river,  and  heard  the  cries  of  the 
men  for  assistance,  but  none  attempted  to  go  to  their 
aid,  as  all  feared  to  take  the  risk.  Mr.  Arms,  who  lives 
on  the  bank  of  the  river,  was  confined  to  his  bed  with 
malarial  fever,  but  he  immediately  rose,  and  without 
waiting  to  put  on  coat,  hat,  or  shoes,  made  his  way  as 
rapidly  as  possible  to  the  ferry  landing.  He  jumped  into 
a  skiff,  and  appealed  to  the  bystanders  for  aid,  offering 
ten  dollars,  all  the  money  he  had,  to  any  person  who  would 
go  with  him  in  the  boat.  Failing  to  secure  a  companion, 
he  shoved  off  in  the  boat  alone,  although  one  of  the  persons 
appealed  to,  states  that  "I  told  him  it  was  madness  to  go 
out  there,  for  if  the  drift  don't  swamp  you,  the  people  on 


182  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

those  cars  will  jump  in  and  swamp  you  sure."  With 
cries  of  encouragement  to  the  imperiled  persons,  Arms 
finally  reached  the  cars,  and  safely  landed  the  men  upon 
the  river  bank.  Had  it  not  been  for  this  heroic  action, 
it  cannot  be  doubted  that  all  three  of  the  men,  whose  lives 
were  imperiled,  would  have  perished.  Application  for  a 
medal  for  Mr.  Arms  was  made  by  the  Postmaster-General, 
officials  of  the  railway  mail  service  having  taken  the 
matter  up  and  procured  the  necessary  affidavits  and 
statements  upon  which  to  base  an  application  under  the 
statute.  Medal  awarded,  June  8,  1907. 

Edward  A.  McGrath,  Milwaukee,  a  station  agent,  is 
a  cripple;  a  six-year-old  girl  started  to  cross  the  track 
ahead  of  a  train,  apparently  not  perceiving  its  approach 
at  the  rate  of  from  15  to  20  miles  per  hour.  McGrath 
quickly  rushed  to  the  rescue  of  the  child.  The  train  was 
so  close  that  the  spectators  feared  it  would  be  impossible 
for  either  to  escape  destruction.  McGrath  was  struck 
by  the  pilot  beam  of  the  engine,  and  his  hat  was  knocked 
off,  but  he  fortunately  escaped  injury  and  succeeded  in 
lifting  the  little  girl  from  in  front  of  the  engine  and  plac- 
ing her  entirely  uninjured  out  of  the  zone  of  danger. 
Medal  awarded,  December  3,  1907. 

Frank  Larson,  Fremont,  Nebraska,  a  locomotive 
fireman,  discovered  a  small  boy  on  the  track  about  400 
feet  ahead  of  the  engine ;  he  climbed  out  the  window  in  the 
front  of  the  cab,  hastened  along  the  running  board  to  the 
pilot  of  the  engine,  reaching  the  point  of  danger  just  in 
time  to  catch  the  child  by  its  clothing  and  throw  it  off  the 
track  as  the  train  passed  over  the  spot  where  it  had  been 
standing.  Medal  awarded,  April  2,  1908. 

Charles  Bennett,  Waukegan,  Illinois,  a  brakeman  on  a 
train  which  was  sidetracked,  as  a  fast  passenger  train 
approached,  running  at  a  speed  of  fifty  or  sixty  miles  an 
hour,  saw  a  woman  step  on  the  track  directly  in  front  of 
the  train,  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  from  where  he  was 
standing.  When  he  reached  her  and  caught  hold  of  her 
with  the  intention  of  pulling  her  from  the  track,  she  re- 
sisted his  effort  and  endeavored  to  break  away  from  him, 


HEROES  IN  OVERALLS  183 

evidently  misunderstanding  his  intention  and  having 
no  idea  of  her  dangerous  position.  Finding  that  he  could 
not  induce  the  woman  to  leave  the  track,  he  picked  her  up 
bodily,  when  the  train  was  almost  upon  them,  and  they 
rolled  together  into  a  fifteen-foot  ditch  at  the  side  of  the 
track, "the  train  passing  so  close  that  Bennett's  body  was 
brushed  by  the  pilot  beam  of  the  engine.  Medal  awarded, 
April  2,  1908. 

Robert  Brendle,  McKeesport,  Pennsylvania,  a  police- 
man, was  on  duty  at  a  street  crossing  when  a  train  came 
along  at  a  good  rate  of  speed.  At  the  same  time,  a  woman 
started  across  the  tracks.  Brendle  attempted  to  warn  her 
by  shouting  to  her.  She  was  a  foreigner ;  did  not  speak 
English  and  did  not  seem  to  understand  the  warning 
cries.  Brendle  ran  on  to  the  track,  grabbed  the  woman 
about  the  waist,  and  carried  her  quickly  across.  The 
train  was  so  close  to  them  that  the  pilot  beam  of  the 
locomotive  brushed  the  officer's  body  and  the  witnesses 
of  the  incident  turned  their  heads  aside,  thinking  that 
both  would  surely  be  ground  to  pieces  under  the  train. 
Medal  awarded,  February  28,  1910. 

George  Karsten,  switchman,  Milwaukee,  standing  on  a 
platform  between  north-bound  and  south-bound  tracks, 
when  a  woman  stepped  directly  in  the  path  of  an  on-com- 
ing engine.  Karsten  ran  to  her  assistance,  expecting  to 
push  her  off  the  track.  She  was  a  large  woman,  however, 
and  began  to  struggle  with  him,  and  continued  to  resist 
his  efforts  to  get  her  out  of  harm's  way  until  the  engine 
struck  them.  The  woman  was  killed,  and  Karsten  fell 
between  the  rails,  the  tender  and  all  of  the  engine  except 
the  pilot  passing  over  him.  When  the  engine  was  stopped, 
he  was  lying  under  the  pony  trucks.  His  clothing  was 
badly  torn,  and  he  was  badly  scratched,  but  not  seriously 
injured.  Medal  awarded,  February  28,  1910. 

Such  as  these,  the  brave,  self-sacrificing,  simple  every- 
day folk,  the  common  soldiers  in  the  armies  of  peace, 
Mr.  Moseley  delighted  to  see  the  nation  enroll  among  its 
heroes. 


CHAPTER  XIX 
FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE 

WHILE  the  humane  features  of  railroad  regulation  en- 
listed Mr.  Moseley's  whole  heart,  he  always  gave  a  full 
share  of  his  thought  and  energy  to  the  important  eco- 
nomic objects  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 
Commissioner  Prouty,  in  his  estimate  of  the  man,  which 
will  be  found  elsewhere  in  this  volume,  says  "it  was  largely 
due  to  him  that  the  trains  of  thought  and  courses  of 
action  were  put  in  operation  which  finally  resulted  in  the 
Hepburn  amendment  of  1906"  —  the  law  from  which 
the  Commission  draws  its  present  vigor. 

The  movement,  which  Mr.  Moseley  led,  for  safety 
appliances  really  vindicated  and  established  the  power 
of  Federal  law  over  the  instrumentalities  of  interstate 
commerce  before  it  had  been  effectively  applied  to  the 
commerce  itself.  Although  the  original  Interstate  Com- 
merce Act  had  been  passed  solely  for  the  purpose  of 
preventing  injustice  to  shippers  and  passengers,  the  law, 
as  interpreted  by  the  courts,  proved  to  be  wofully  inade- 
quate, and  for  years  the  Commission  was  unable  to  correct 
the  characteristic  abuses  it  was  organized  to  remedy. 
Public  interest  fell  away  from  it  in  large  measure. 

The  Commission  developed  an  unexpected  efficiency 
in  dealing  with  certain  conditions  of  railroad  labor,  while 

it  disclosed  a  disheartening  helplessness  to  effect  any 

184 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  185 

marked  improvement  for  the  commerce  which  that  labor 
was  engaged  in  handling.  Laws  had  done  much  for  the 
employees,  but  little  for  the  patrons  of  the  railroads. 

The  Safety  Appliance  Acts,  their  approval  by  the  courts 
and  their  vigorous  enforcement,  thus  became  a  convincing 
example  of  what  the  Government  could  and  should  do  in 
regulating  interstate  commerce.  They  gave  complete 
and  convincing  proof  of  the  moral  obligation  and  practical 
efficiency  of  the  General  Government  as  a  regulative  agency 
throughout  the  whole  field  of  commerce  between  the  States. 

Early  in  his  service,  Mr.  Moseley  took  a  position  far  in 
advance  of  public  sentiment  and  political  expediency  on 
the  subject  of  the  power  and  duty  of  the  nation  over  the 
mighty  interstate  traffic,  which  still  flowed  virtually 
unregulated,  and  he  held  his  ground  through  a  long 
period  of  distrust  and  despair.  In  an  address  delivered 
in  September,  1900,  he  employed  a  striking  phrase  ex- 
pressive of  his  stand  :  "Some  one  has  said  that  commerce 
is  war.  That  may  or  may  not  be  true ;  but  one  thing  is 
certain,  unregulated  commerce  is  commercial  anarchy/' 
His  deep  interest  in  the  problem  at  a  time  when  it  was 
suffering  from  neglect  is  shown  by  the  following  letters 
which  passed  between  him  and  a  learned  member  of  the 
faculty  of  Williams  College  in  the  same  year :  — 

October  2,  1900. 
MR.  JOHN  BASCOM, 
Williamstown,  Mass. 

DEAR  SIR: 

At  two  o'clock  this  morning,  worried  and  troubled,  I 
could  not  sleep.  In  casting  about  for  something  to  read, 
my  eye  fell  upon  your  book  on  "Growth  of  Nationality 


186  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

in  the  United  States."  I  picked  it  up  and  immediately 
became  absorbed  in  it,  and  I  hasten  to  confess  to  you  that 
I  had  failed  to  read  the  book  and  did  not  know  of  its 
contents  until  a  few  hours  ago. 

Harassed  as  we  have  been,  and  almost  disheartened  of 
being  ever  able  to  be  of  service  to  the  public  in  the  direc- 
tion of  the  regulation  of  commerce,  I  have  almost  felt 
like  giving  up  the  battle.  Directed  by  order  of  the 
Commission  to  secure  legislation,  I  have  been  making  the 
best  effort  I  could,  only  to  be  persecuted  and  misinter- 
preted in  every  possible  way.  But  after  reading  your 
book  I  have  taken  on  new  life.  It  is  so  fair,  so  just,  and 
goes  to  the  crux  of  the  trouble,  I  take  hope,  finding  that 
some  one  endowed  with  ability  to  express  himself  so  for- 
cibly has  taken  the  position  which  you  have,  for  there  are 
very  few  indeed  who  are  forcible  and  lucid  who  take  the 
public  side  of  these  questions. 

Now  I  do  want  to  know  more  of  you,  for  I  cannot  tell 
you  how  much  you  have  relieved  my  feelings.  The  next 
letter  I  write  is  to  Mr.  Olney,  for  the  purpose  of  begging 
him  to  read  at  least  chapter  six  of  your  book.  The 
justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  must  see  the  book,  and  if 
they  are  not  already  in  possession  of  it,  I  want  to  have  the 
publishers  send  a  copy  to  each  of  them  and  send  me  the 
bill,  which  I  will  gladly  pay.  It  should  be  read  by  every- 
body. I  am  about  ordering  from  the  publishers  a  half- 
dozen  copies  for  the  Commission,  and  I  only  regret  that  I 
do  not  have  funds  at  my  disposal  to  put  copies  in  the  hands 
of  every  shipper  in  the  country. 

I  take  pleasure  in  inclosing  copies  of  two  addresses  I 
recently  delivered,  and  also  send  a  copy  of  a  secret  attack 
which  is  only  one  of  the  many  to  which  I  have  been  sub- 
jected because  of  my  efforts  to  bring  about  the  legisla- 
tive remedies  advocated  in  your  book. 

I  do  not  think  you  have  seen  a  copy  of  the  hearings 
before  the  Senate  committee  in  the  effort  of  the  com- 
mercial organizations  to  amend  the  law.  The  bill 
introduced  was  reported  adversely,  but  is  still  on  the 
calendar. 

I  am,  with  great  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  187 

WlLLIAMSTOWN,    MASS. 

Oct.  6,  1900. 
MR.  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

DEAR  SIR: 

Your  letter  gave  me  much  pleasure,  and  I  lay  awake 
last  night  rejoicing  in  your  plucky  fight.  It  will  be  to 
you  and  to  the  Commission  according  to  your  courage 
and  faith. 

You  have  a  magnificent  calling.  Few  in  our  day  can 
do  as  much.  It  is  a  good  sign  that  they  abuse  you ;  it 
shows  that  your  words  take  hold.  "When  men  hate  you 
and  say  all  manner  of  evil  against  you  falsely,  rejoice 
and  be  exceeding  glad."  I  hope  you  will  sleep  sound  and 
wake  up  every  morning  to  put  the  case  anew  with  undy- 
ing patience. 

I  hammer  it  in  to  the  students  and  into  the  community 
whenever  I  get  a  chance.  I  am  professor  of  Political 
Science. 

I  have  sent  your  generous  offer  in  reference  to  the 
judges,  to  the  Putnams.  I  am  obliged  for  the  documents. 
Please  keep  me  posted.  What  I  am  most  in  danger  of  is 
ignorance. 

With  much  regard, 

JOHN  BASCOM. 

P.S.  I  feel  some  diffidence  in  letting  you  pay  for  the 
volumes  for  the  judges.  I  would  pay  half  or  the  whole, 
as  suits  your  convenience. 

J.B. 

A  distinguished  railroad  attorney  also  testified  to  Mr. 
Moseley's  efforts  at  that  time  in  the  following  letter :  — 

CHICAGO,  MILWAUKEE  AND  ST.  PAUL  RAILWAY  COMPANY, 
OFFICE  OF  GENERAL  COUNSEL, 

OLD  COLONY  BUILDING,  CHICAGO, 

October  5,  1900. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  MOSELEY  : 

I  must  thank  you  for  sending  me  the  pamphlet  copy  of 
your  address  before  the  Millers7  State  Association  at 
Atlantic  City.  I  have  read  it  with  care,  with  interest 


188  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

and  with  profit.  It  is  a  very  thoughtful  and  able  pro- 
duction, and  I  doubt  not  will  accomplish  much  good.  I 
was  particularly  struck  by  the  fairness  with  which  you 
discussed  the  various  questions,  for  it  is  certain  that 
nearly  all  of  them  are  such  that  something  can  be  said 
on  both  sides. 

The  regulation  of  commerce  has  always  been  in  the 
constitution,  although  it  was  never  seriously  attempted 
until  the  passage  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Act,  and 
probably  years  will  elapse  before  there  will  be  a  real  and 
genuine  regulation  of  commerce ;  still,  I  believe  the  time 
will  come  when  the  vicious  practices  now  so  justly  com- 
plained of,  will  be  eradicated.  The  payment  of  rebates 
is  not  only  unjust  in  itself,  but  it  is  productive  of  great 
harm  to  the  public  and  to  the  railroads  themselves.  I 
hope  you  will  continue  to  write  on  the  subject,  for  what 
the  public  most  needs  is  intelligent  discussion,  and  not 
the  ranting  of  demagogues. 

I  am  expecting  to  be  in  Washington  before  long,  and 
hope  to  see  you. 

With  best  wishes, 

Very  truly  yours, 

GEORGE  R.  PECK. 

A  letter  written  by  Justice  Brewer  of  the  Supreme 
Court  to  Mr.  Moseley  gives  evidence  of  the  Secretary's 
activity  in  this  field  as  far  back  as  1892,  when  he  went 
directly  to  the  justice  relative  to  a  rate  decision  that  had 
lately  been  handed  down.  An  excerpt  from  the  letter 
follows :  — 

SUPREME  COURT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 
WASHINGTON,  November  8,  1892. 

MR.  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,   Secretary  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission,  Washington. 

DEAR  SIR  : 

...  I  can  confess  to  be  much  disturbed  by  your 
very  careful  and  valuable  suggestions,  but  I  hope  that 
any  error,  if  error  there  be  in  the  criticized  language, 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  189 

will  be  speedily  corrected.  ...  I  am  very  much  obliged 
to  you  for  the  frankness  with  which  you  called  upon  me. 
I  shall  always  be  glad  to  talk  over  with  you  the  law  and 
practice  with  respect  to  interstate  commerce.  What 
all  must  desire,  is  a  correct  interpretation  of  the  statutes, 
and  protection  to  all  rights,  individual  and  corporate. 
With  great  respect, 

I  am,  yours  truly, 

D.  J.  BREWER. 

When  at  last  the  question  of  regulating  interstate 
commerce  came  to  the  front  once  more  early  in  the 
Roosevelt  administration,  Mr.  Moseley's  successful  work 
for  safety  appliances  had  perfected  him  in  the  fine  art 
of  agitation.  The  Commission  employed  and  relied 
upon  his  ability  in  promoting  legislation,  to  aid  in  for- 
warding bills  for  broadening  and  strengthening  the 
Federal  authority.  In  the  long  and  arduous  campaigns 
which  were  waged  in  Congress,  he  discharged  with  dis- 
cretion the  delicate  duty  of  representing  the  Commission 
as  a  whole  at  the  Capitol. 

A  letter  Mr.  Moseley  wrote  in  1902  was  remarkably 
prophetic  of  all  the  steps  that  have  since  been  taken.  In 
it  he  clearly  and  concisely  described  the  situation  as  it  was 
then,  and  foreshadowed  the  various  remedial  measures 
that  have  since  been  adopted.  This  is  the  letter  :  — 

April  3,  1902. 
MR.  HENRY  GEORGE,  JR., 

101  West  84th  Street, 

New  York,  N.Y. 
DEAR  MR.  GEORGE  : 

Your  kind  letter,  which  I  greatly  appreciate,  is  re- 
ceived. It  is  one  of  those  cases  of  appreciation  which  are 
only  occasionally  met  with  in  the  course  of  official  life. 


190  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

If  a  man  serves  wealth  and  power,  his  road  is  usually 
made  quite  easy  for  him;  but  the  public  are  largely  in 
ignorance  of  what  is  going  on  and  have  no  opportunities 
of  determining  whether  the  average  official  is  friendly  or 
not.  They  generally  take  it  for  granted  that  a  man  who 
occupies  a  public  office  holds  it  by  the  grace  of  the 
powerful. 

Permit  me  to  say  that  the  experiment  of  regulation  in 
fact  has  never  been  tried.  The  Interstate  Commerce 
Law  was  a  compromise,  and  the  adroit  agent  of  the 
railroad  in  the  capacity  of  the  senator  or  representative 
took  care  to  insert  language  that  afforded  the  pretexts 
for  arguments,  which,  accepted  by  the  courts,  resulted 
in  nullifying  what  were  believed  to  be  valuable  provisions 
of  the  law.  Take  for  instance  the  phrase,  "  substantially 
similar  circumstances  and  conditions."  Harmless  words 
apparently,  but  they  have  defeated  the  express  purposes 
of  the  proponents  of  the  law. 

The  same  may  be  said  of  the  undefinable  word  "rea- 
sonble."  It  is  as  difficult  to  determine  the  reasonableness 
of  a  thing  without  a  definition  of  the  word  "  reasonable, "  as 
it  would  be  to  fix  prices  by  the  quart  if  the  dimensions  of 
that  measure  had  not  been  settled.  Who  is  to  determine 
when  a  rate  is  reasonable  ?  The  courts  have  denied  the 
right  to  the  Commission  and  practically  refuse  to  do  it 
themselves. 

I  should  like  to  see  an  effort  at  regulation  which  really 
meant  something.  It  should,  I  think,  be  made  a  mis- 
demeanor, punishable  by  imprisonment,  for  any  officer 
of  a  railroad  to  keep  any  false  account  or  to  keep  any 
book  or  memorandum,  other  than  those  established  by 
the  law  or  the  regulating  authority;  this  to  apply  to 
financial  operations  as  well  as  to  the  movement  of  traffic. 
No  transportation  should  be  issued  upon  any  pretext 
whatever  unless  it  was  duly  recorded  and  open  to  public 
inspection.  Rates  should  be  public,  and  it  should  be 
made  a  punishable  offense  to  even  offer  to  depart  there- 
from. The  regulating  authority  should  have  the  power, 
when  challenged,  of  prescribing  what  is  a  just  rate ;  and 
the  extent  and  terms  on  which  railroads  should  accept 
traffic  from  other  roads. 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  191 

But  this  subject  is  too  large  for  a  letter.  I  only  want 
to  say  that  I  believe  an  earnest  and  sincere  attempt 
should  be  made  to  regulate  the  railroads  by  law  and  the 
experiment  tried ;  but  can  such  an  act  be  passed  when  the 
real  friends  of  regulation  are  largely  outside  the  halls 
of  Congress  and  so  very  few  within  them  ? 

Should  you  ever  come  to  Washington,  I  should  be 
greatly  pleased  to  have  you  call  upon  me.  If  there  is 
ever  anything  here  in  the  way  of  documents  or  informa- 
tion which  I  can  procure  for  you,  pray  command  me. 

Sincerely  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

Perhaps  there  is  no  better  way  of  indicating  the  part 
which  Mr.  Moseley  played  in  the  discussion  and  struggle 
that  followed  than  by  presenting  a  few  letters,  and  let 
them  tell  the  story. 

August  30,  1905. 

HON.  S.  B.  ELKINS,  United  States  Senator,  Washington, 
B.C. 

DEAR  SENATOR  ELKINS  : 

I  am  writing  you  entirely  on  my  own  responsibility 
and  not  as  an  official. 

In  my  opinion,  the  great  wrongs  in  railroad  transpor- 
tation are  due  to  one  or  more  shippers,  by  some  means 
or  other,  having  an  advantage  which  competitive  shippers 
do  not  enjoy.  This,  I  believe,  is  a  crying  evil,  far  greater 
than  those  involved  in  any  question  of  the  rate.  When 
every  one  has  precisely  the  same  treatment  and  has  to 
pay  the  same  rate,  a  large  factor  in  this  question  of  gov- 
ernmental regulation  and  the  fixing  of  rates  will  have 
been  eliminated. 

Mr.  Spenser  has  said  that  he  believed  in  the  fullest 
publicity  and,  as  I  understand,  so  did  a  number  of  the 
other  railroad  companies.  Until  we  have  this,  all  at- 
tempts to  see  that  all  receive  equal  rates  will,  to  a  greater 
or  less  extent,  fail.  If  all  are  to  enjoy  equality  of  treat- 
ment I  know  of  nothing  which  would  be  more  effective 


192  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

than  the  plan  proposed  in  the  inclosed  suggestion  for 
amendment  of  the  act. 

There  are  a  number  of  other  questions  which  it  would 
be  well  to  deal  with.  For  instance,  there  is  a  large  amount 
of  commerce  which  is  free  from  any  control ;  it  is  neither 
covered  by  State  nor  National  law.  The  first  section  of 
the  law  could  easily  be  broadened  so  as  to  remedy  this 
condition. 

Then,  there  is  the  question  whether  express  companies 
should  not  be  subject  to  the  provisions  of  the  act.  The 
Commission  early  decided  that  express  business,  con- 
ducted by  an  independent  organization,  acquiring  trans- 
portation rights  by  contract,  was  not  described  in  the 
act  with  sufficient  precision  to  warrant  the  Commission 
in  taking  jurisdiction  thereof.  I  believe,  in  the  light  of 
your  amendments  to  the  law,  that  if  the  question  were 
to  come  before  the  Commission  to-day  the  decision  would 
be  reversed,  but,  unfortunately,  the  conclusion  was 
reached  very  early  in  the  history  of  the  Commission. 

This,  if  you  will  please  so  consider  it,  is  a  confidential 
letter.  I  have  no  pride  in  anything  I  may  advocate 
and  what  I  write  is  merely  suggestive. 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

Receiving  from  Secretary  Loeb  the  suggestion  that  he 
should  put  his  views  in  writing  for  the  President's  exami- 
nation, Mr.  Moseley  replied :  — 

October  4,  1905. 

HON.  WILLIAM  LOEB,  JR.,  Secretary  to  the  President, 
White  House,  Washington,  B.C. 

DEAR  MR.  LOEB: 

Replying  to  your  suggestion  that  I  put  what  I  desire 
to  say  in  writing,  I  submit  the  following :  — 

My  experience  of  more  than  eighteen  years  as  Secre- 
tary, in  addition  to  many  years  of  active  business  life, 
impresses  me  with  the  fact  that  the  greatest  sore  in  the 
railway  situation  is  the  advantage  secretly  given  one 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  193 

person  which  another  is  not  permitted  to  enjoy.  Within 
the  past  few  years  it  has  been  repeatedly  announced  that 
discrimination  practices,  which  have  existed  in  the  past, 
have  been  done  away  with  —  that  rebates  have  been 
abolished.  It  is  of  no  consequence  or  difference  to  the 
public,  or  to  those  who  suffer,  how  the  advantage  is  given 
so  long  as  it  is  substantial  and  results  in  a  different  rate 
to  one  person  than  that  which  is  allowed  to  another. 

The  adroitness  of  the  traffic  manager  and  the  shrewd- 
ness of  the  shipper  have  in  many  cases  changed  the  form 
which  these  secret  advantages  have  taken,  so  that  the 
bald  method  of  paying  a  straight  rebate  may  be  little 
used;  but  I  confidently  believe  that  these  illegitimate 
advantages  are  afforded  now  in  almost  as  great  degree  as 
in  the  past. 

Notwithstanding  the  Elkins  Law  and  the  authority  of 
the  Commission  to  compel  testimony,  it  is  difficult  now, 
as  it  always  has  been,  to  ascertain  the  facts  respecting 
secret  practices.  It  is  only  when  some  railroad  finds  it 
is  losing  business,  when  some  shipper  finds  his  com- 
petitor's trade  increasing  abnormally,  or  through  the 
grumbling  of  some  dissatisfied  employee,  that  the  inves- 
tigating body  can  obtain  information  which  will  justify 
Jthe  institution  of  an  inquiry.  Even  then  these  investi- 
gations, in  very  many  instances,  fail  to  develop  the  true 
situation,  which,  if  brought  out,  would  justify  presenta- 
tion of  the  matter  to  the  prosecuting  officers  of  the 
Government. 

It  follows,  therefore,  that  no  matter  how  desirable  it 
may  be  to  amend  the  act  in  other  respects,  if  there  are 
provided  no  means  of  obtaining  the  information  neces- 
sary to  successful  prosecution,  these  ruinous  practices 
will  continue.  The  cure  for  the  evil  is  publicity  of  the 
accounts  of  common  carriers.  It  should  be  made  a 
criminal  offense  for  any  common  carrier  engaged  in  inter- 
state commerce  to  keep  any  book,  memorandum,  or  data 
other  than  those  prescribed  by  law  or  regulation,  and  such 
books  or  memoranda  should  be  open  to  the  inspection  of 
representatives  of  the  government  who  are  expert  ac- 
countants and  familiar  with  the  methods  of  railroad 
bookkeeping.  .  .  . 


194  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

When  every  man  can  feel  assured  that  he  will  pay  the 
same  charge  for  the  transportation  of  himself  and  his 
property  as  is  paid  by  others  for  the  carriage  of  other 
persons,  or  like  property,  under  similar  conditions,  the 
railroad  problem,  so-called,  will  be  a  long  way  towards 
solution. 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

November  21,  1905. 
HON.  JOHN  W.  GAINES,  Nashville,  Tennessee. 

DEAR  MR.  GAINES  : 

I  notice  that  the  coal  men  of  Tennessee  are  about  to 
have  a  convention  at  which  it  is  proposed  to  pass  resolu- 
tions against  the  President's  position  in  regard  to  the 
rate  question.  Is  it  possible  that  Mr.  D.  M.  Parry, 
buggy  manufacturer,  and  also  vice  president  of  the  In- 
dianapolis Southern  Railway,  Daniel  Davenport,  of 
Bridgeport,  Connecticut,  employed  by  the  railroads,  and 
F.  B.  Thurber,  also  employed  by  the  Erie  Railroad,  will 
be  there  to  aid  and  assist  in  condemning  the  President's 
attempt  to  obtain  justice  for  all  and  his  effort  to  secure 
fair  treatment? 

Paraphrasing  the  remarks  of  certain  persons  who  called 
upon  the  President  to  urge  him  not  to  recommend  any 
legislation  looking  to  an  increase  in  the  power  of  the 
Commission  over  rates,  they  practically  said :  Do  not 
take  any  steps  to  restrain  the  exactions  of  the  railroads 
and  relieve  the  rest  of  the  community.  A  " square  deal" 
with  us  means  that  the  railroads  should  be  allowed  to 
continue  to  levy  tribute  unrestrained  on  the  public 
generally  in  order  that  they  may  be  better  equipped  to 
grant  us  favors  and  discriminate  for  our  benefit. 

Have  the  people  down  in  your  section  forgotten  the 
words  of  that  eminent  statesman,  Milton  H.  Smith  of 
the  Louisville  &  Nashville :  "If  the  people  don't  like  it, 
they  can  walk."  Have  they  forgotten  the  time  when 
the  people  of  Nebraska  were  burning  corn  for  fuel,  not- 
withstanding the  fact  that  the  mine  operators  of  Ten- 
nessee and  Kentucky  would  gladly  have  sent  them  coal 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  195 

and  regardless  of  the  fact  that  the  particular  railroads 
over  which  the  coal  would  have  been  transported  were 
willing  to  carry  it  at  rates  which  would  permit  of  its 
movement,  but  the  octopus  at  that  time  of  railroad 
management  —  the  gentlemen's  agreement  or  associa- 
tion —  forbade  it  being  done  because  it  would  disturb 
the  joint  rate  situation,  and  what  coal  did  go  to  Nebraska 
and  Kansas  continued  to  go  from  the  mines  of  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Ohio?  It  really  seems  to  me  that  a  great 
many  people  have  very  short  memories. 

This  is  not  written  as  Secretary  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  but  is  only  a  personal  line  to 
yourself. 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

January  30,  1906. 

HON.  P.  C.  KNOX,  United  States  Senator,  Washington, 
B.C. 

DEAR  SENATOR: 

The  Chairman  returned  this  morning.  I  have  sub- 
mitted your  request  to  him  and  he  will  make  reply. 

I  want  to  say,  however,  that  reparation  through  any 
tribunal,  judicial  or  otherwise,  for  injuries  resulting  from 
discrimination  or  unreasonable  rates  has  never  proved  of 
great  practical  value  and  is  entirely  inadequate  as  a  pro- 
tection to  those  suffering  the  injury.  We  have  been 
unable  to  find  any  case  either  in  Great  Britain  or  the 
United  States,  in  State  or  Federal  courts,  where  one  who 
has  been  injured  has  recovered  anything  in  court  on 
account  of  an  unreasonable  rate.  The  Commission  has 
endeavored  to  grant  relief  in  this  respect  and  has  ordered 
that  reparation  be  made,  but  only  one  case  has  ever  been 
tested  in  court.  In  that  case  the  complainants  prevailed 
in  the  Circuit  Court  but  were  defeated  in  the  Court  of 
Appeals.  See  F.  R.  137,  p.  343.  The  case  is  now  in  the 
Supreme  Court. 

It  is  admitted,  I  believe,  by  all  that  after  a  transaction 
is  completed  and  the  shipper  has  paid  the  rate  to  the 
carrier,  reparation  therefor  can  only  be  recovered  legally 


196  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

by  a  proceeding  before  a  court  and  jury ;  so  that,  however 
plausible  the  theory  of  righting  every  wrong  in  court 
may  seem  and  however  adequate  the  same  may,  in  fact, 
be  in  respect  to  ordinary  controversies,  it  is  manifestly 
illusive  and  inadequate  as  to  the  rights  of  those  who  bear 
the  burdens  of  freight  rates. 

Often  the  man  who  ships  and  pays  the  rate  and  who 
alone  could  sue  in  court  because  he  alone  is  known  in 
the  transaction  has  not  been  hurt  by  an  unjust  or  exces- 
sive rate,  since  in  the  purchase  and  sale  of  the  article  he 
has  taken  care  of  himself  and  cast  the  burden  on  the 
consumer  or  producer  or  both.  In  most  cases,  though, 
the  hampering  limitations  upon  one's  business  by  reason 
of  unjust  discrimination  in  rates  or  facilities  are  certain, 
serious  and  possibly  even  destructive ;  yet  how  can  they 
even  be  measured  and  definitely  located  with  that  cer- 
tainty and  directness  necessary  to  support  a  specific 
verdict  for  a  definite  amount  in  dollars  and  cents  against 
this  road  and  that  one  ? 

When  one's  business  has  been  greatly  damaged  or 
destroyed  by  unjust  rates  and  he  sues  for  damages  and 
undertakes  to  prove  the  same,  how  can  he  do  it  ?  If  he 
proves  what  shipments  he  has  made,  and  shows  the  excess 
in  rates  paid  thereon  above  what  would  have  been  just 
and  reasonable,  he  might  recover  this,  but  in  most  cases 
this  would  only  be  a  small  part  of  the  injury  he  had  sus- 
tained. When  he  goes  beyond  this  and  tries  to  show 
what  greater  business  he  could  and  would  have  done 
upon  fair  and  just  rates  if  he  had  had  them,  he  soon 
gets  into  the  domain  of  uncertainty  and  so-called  specu- 
lative damages  and  is  cut  off. 

The  only  even  approximately  adequate  protection  to 
those  who  have  rights  involved  in  the  question  of  just 
and  reasonable  rates,  in  the  very  nature  of  the  case,  is  the 
establishment  of  just  and  reasonable  rates  beforehand 
upon  which  to  do  business.  These  wrongs  once  done  can 
never  be  righted,  for  their  extent  can  never  be  ascertained 
and  measured.  Prevention  is  the  only  possible  protec- 
tion. 

With  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  197 

HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  U.S., 
WASHINGTON,  D.C. 

Feb.  7,  1906. 

Many  thanks,  my  dear  Mr.  Moseley,  for  your  very 
kind  note  which  has  just  been  handed  to  me. 

I  am  very  glad  that  you  approve  what  I  said  to-day 
on  the  rate  bill.  It  confirms  my  opinions  and  gives  me 
reason  to  be  satisfied  with  my  performance  on  the  floor 
—  a  feeling  which  was  by  no  means  strong  with  me  before 
I  read  your  words  of  encouragement  and  praise. 

Yours  very  sincerely, 

W.    BOURKE    COCKRAN. 

In  the  following  letter  to  a  lawyer,  who  had  been 
retained  by  the  Commission,  the  methods  of  the  Commis- 
sion are  disclosed :  — 

April  26,  1906. 
DEAR  MR. : 

In  regard  to  the  publicity  which  has  been  given  to 
your  employment,  it  is  very  annoying  to  the  Commission 
that  their  business  should  have  any  circulation  in  the 
papers.  It  is  entirely  contrary  to  their  settled  policy. 
The  hearings,  of  course,  are  open  and  so  are  the  reports, 
which  they  officially  announce. 

Whether  it  was  your  statement  or  that  of  Mr. ,  the 

results  seem  to  have  been  the  same.  Every  paper  in 
the  country,  almost,  has  announced  your  employment  by 
the  Commission  and  in  a  way  which  would  give  the  im- 
pression that  the  Commission  has  entered  upon  a  crusade 
against  certain  interests  rather  than  pursuing  the  calm, 
deliberate  course  which  should  characterize  a  body  of  this 
sort.  Nothing  could  be  more  unfortunate,  particularly 
at  this  time  when  the  Senate  of  the  United  States  is 
deliberating  about  conferring  more  power  upon  the 
Commission. 

The  Commission  can  accomplish  all  the  public  desires 
without  the  aid  of  public  announcement  and  do  so  in  a 
far  more  effective  way.  Anything  which  looks  as  though 


198  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

the  Commission  had  dropped  a  judicial  view  of  things 
and  were  becoming  prosecuting  officers  is  detrimental  to 
their  interests,  particularly  at  this  time.  If,  therefore, 
in  future,  before  any  action  is  taken,  you  will  consult  with 

Mr.  ,  it  would  be  better.     You  will  bear  in  mind, 

please,  that  I  urged  your  employment  by  the  Commission 

as  an  assistant  and  aid  to  Mr. ,  and  the  Commission 

fully  understands  that  he  is  in  charge  of  the  matter. 

I  beg  of  you  to  make  no  announcement  of  who  is  sub- 
poenaed or  what  course  is  contemplated  by  the  Commis- 
sion, and  that  all  information  which  is  given  out  in  regard 
to  this  matter  comes  from  the  Commission  direct. 

Very  truly  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


May  10,  1906. 

HON.  STEPHEN  B.  ELKINS,  United  States  Senator, 
Washington,  D.C. 

DEAR  SENATOR: 

I  want  to  call  your  attention  to  the  amendment  adopted 
by  the  Senate  prohibiting  carriers  transporting  any  article 
or  commodity  which  it  manufactures,  mines,  produces, 
sells,  or  has  any  interest  in  and  especially  to  the  except- 
ing clause  at  the  end,  which  reads  as  follows:  " except 
such  articles  or  commodities  as  may  be  necessary  or  used 
in  the  conduct  of  its  business  as  a  common  carrier." 

Now,  the  exception  goes  to  the  article  or  commodity 
and  not  to  the  extent  of  the  transportation  for  its  own 
use,  and  the  danger  is  that  the  excepting  clause  may  be 
so  construed  that  coal,  which  is  used  by  the  carrier  in  its 
business,  will  be  entirely  excepted  from  the  amendment. 
In  point  of  fact,  of  course,  the  real  purpose  of  the  amend- 
ment is  to  prohibit  the  carrier  from  having  any  interest 
in  the  coal,  etc.,  transported  except  as  the  use  of  such 
commodity  may  be  necessary  in  the  conduct  of  its  busi- 
ness. It  is  suggested  that  the  following  excepting  clause 
would  more  nearly  meet  the  requirements  of  the  amend- 
ment:  "  except  to  the  extent  that  the  transportation  of 
any  such  article  or  commodity  may  be  necessary  for  the 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  199 

use  of  that  article  or  commodity  in  the  conduct  of  its 
business  as  a  common  carrier. " 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

May  16,  1906. 
DEAR  MR. : 

Your  telegram  just  received.  I  send  you  herewith, 
special  delivery,  a  copy  of  Congressional  Record,  which 
I  think  will  interest  you. 

Senator  Hale  took  occasion  to  say  twice,  as  I  am  told, 
that  the  Commission  got  in  their  work  overnight.  I 
hear  that  Senators  Lodge  and  Hale  are  very  much  irri- 
tated with  us.  Senator  Gallinger  moved  to  lay  the 
amendment  to  increase  the  Secretary's  salary  on  the 
table.  A  friend  of  mine,  who  saw  him  this  morning,  told 
me  that  he  said  that  he  would  fight  and  oppose  me  as 
long  as  he  has  breath,  and  that  I  was  an  " anarchist"  and 
that  I  was  "the  originator  of  all  this  radical  legislation." 
You  can  therefore  understand  the  feeling. 

The  truth  really  is  that  I  did  get  around.  The  first 
man  to  tell  me  of  our  victory  was  Senator  Dillingham. 
.  .  .  Whether  we  can  hold  our  ground  or  not  I  do  not 
know.  Very  likely  the  writer  may  have  to  go  down  in 
the  struggle,  but  they  were  making  anxious  inquiries  yes- 
terday from  the  Capitol  to  find  out  if  any  of  the  Commis- 
sioners were  in  town.  I  suppose  they  want  to  fix  the 
deviltry  upon  somebody  besides  an  insignificant  Secretary. 

I  write  you  under  great  pressure  of  work.     They  are 

now    discussing    the   Allison    amendment.     I  send  you 

yesterday's  Chicago  Tribune;  it  may  interest  you.     There 

is  a  lot  of  suppressed  —  and  ill-suppressed  —  bad  blood. 

With  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

June  29,  1906. 

HON.  WILLIAM  H.  MOODY,  Attorney-General,  Washington, 
B.C. 

DEAR  MR.  MOODY  : 

The  Rate  Bill  has  just  passed.  I  have  hastily  run 
over  its  provisions.  Few  people  have  studied  the  bill 


200  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

and  really  understand  what  is  in  it.  The  review,  which 
I  inclose,  was  prepared  on  the  spur  of  the  moment,  but  I 
think  it  contains  all  the  essentials.  This  was  made  for 
my  own  gratification  and  I  have  not  given  it  to  anybody. 
In  reference  to  the  Attorney  Bill,  Senator  Clark  states 
that  he  will  substitute  the  House  Bill  therefor,  and  when 
my  informant  left  the  Capitol  the  Senator  was  awaiting 
recognition  from  the  vice  president  to  bring  the  matter 
to  the  attention  of  the  Senate. 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 

July  2,  1906. 
HON.  STEPHEN  B.  ELKINS,  United  States  Senator, 

Washington,  D.C. 
DEAR  SENATOR: 

The  battle  is  over  and  the  public  have  received  more 
than  the  friends  of  the  legislation  ever  expected  to  get. 
I  feel  that  there  are  few  who  really  understand  what  the 
law  means  better  than  the  writer,  and,  therefore,  from 
my  point  of  view  the  satisfaction  is  all  the  greater.  You 
certainly  have  made  an  earnest  fight  for  a  fair,  just,  and 
thoroughly  effective  measure,  and  I  am  sure  that  time 
will  prove  that  it  is  of  as  great,  if  not  greater,  value  than 
its  predecessor,  the  Elkins  Law. 

As  far  as  I  am  personally  concerned,  I  have  to  thank 
you  for  your  earnest  efforts  in  my  own  behalf.  I  am 
particularly  able  to  do  so  because  all  that  you  did  was 
entirely  without  solicitation  on  my  part. 

I  have  just  had  the  pleasure  of  reading  your  speech 
before  the  West  Virginia  Bankers  Association  at  Elkins, 
West  Virginia,  January  20,  1906.  I  may  truthfully  say 
that  it  is  fine ;  one  of  the  best  I  have  ever  read.  I  have 
heard  some  sermons  which  were  not  half  so  good.  Few 
appreciate  that  wealth  has  its  burdens,  as  onerous  some- 
times and  insistent  as  are  the  privations  of  poverty,  and 
that  the  golden  eagle  is  not  necessarily  the  ticket  of  ad- 
mission to  happiness. 

Wishing  you  all  success,  I  am, 

With  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


FOR  ECONOMIC  JUSTICE  201 

The  Act  of  1906,  clause  by  clause,  reflected  the  ideas 
which  Mr.  Moseley  had  been  advocating  for  several  years. 
It  empowered  the  Commission  to  suspend  any  excessive 
rate  and  to  establish  a  fair  rate  in  accordance  with  its 
best  judgment ;  it  brought  express  and  sleeping  car  com- 
panies and  pipe  lines  within  the  law ;  it  stopped  the  free 
pass  abuse ;  under  it  all  common  carriers  to-day  are  com- 
pelled to  keep  their  books  and  accounts  by  a  uniform 
method  which  the  Commission  has  devised  and  prescribed, 
so  that  an  inspector  from  Washington  may  walk  into 
any  railroad  office  in  the  United  States,  and  read  at  a 
glance  the  record  of  any  transaction,  and  trace  the  re- 
ceipt and  expenditure  of  every  dollar.  The  Act  also  in- 
creased the  number  of  Commissioners  from  five  to  seven 
and  their  salaries  from  $7500  to  $10,000  a  year. 

The  last  words  of  Mr.  Moseley  to  be  quoted  on  this 
subject  were  spoken  in  an  interview  published  throughout 
the  country  on  June  5,  1910.  "Has  the  regulation  of 
railroads  been  of  practical  benefit  to  the  people?"  the 
interviewer  asked. 

"Oh,  most  assuredly,"  Mr.  Moseley  replied.  "For- 
merly when  a  man  took  a  carriage  to  the  railway  station 
he  paid  for  the  service  at  a  rate  established  by  the  mu- 
nicipality. Hackmen  had  to  post  the  official  tariff  of  fares 
inside  their  vehicles  as  a  measure  against  robbery.  But 
the  man,  passenger  or  shipper,  arriving  at  the  depot, 
found  a  halo  of  sanctity  around  the  head  of  the  ticket 
seller  or  the  freight  agent,  and  he  paid  the  price  de- 
manded, unless  he  decided  to  walk  or  carry  his  goods 
on  his  back.  All  information  and  all  power  for  per- 


202  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

forming  a  public  function  were  centered  in  the  railroads 
themselves. 

"A  big  shipper  could  negotiate,  or  have  a  friend,  a 
relative,  or  a  tool  in  the  traffic  department.  The  mer- 
chant on  the  opposite  corner  from  Marshall  Field  in 
Chicago  saw  Field  prospering  and  underselling  him 
because  of  rebates  that  were  denied  every  one  else.  The 
Standard  Oil  Company  made  an  arrangement  by  which 
the  railways  lined  their  own  pockets  and  paid  it  $1  a 
barrel  for  all  the  oil  that  was  shipped  by  its  competitors. 

"Such  swindling  of  the  public  is  now  outlawed.  Re- 
bates and  discriminations  are  largely  stopped,  and  would 
be  altogether  so  if  our  courts  would  send  some  responsible 
railway  officials  to  prison  —  not  an  understrapper,  who 
is  obeying  orders,  but  a  bright  and  shining  light  in  the 
world  of  high  finance.  One  jail  sentence,  served  to  the 
last  minute,  would  wholly  clear  the  atmosphere." 


.CHAPTER  XX 
QUESTIONS  OF  LAW 

MR.  MOSELEY'S  experience  led  him  to  take  the  broadest 
view  of  the  national  power  under  the  Constitution. 

The  best  example  of  this  is  found  in  a  pamphlet  which 
he  issued  in  1907  under  the  title  of  "  Federal  Supremacy." 
The  conclusion  he  announced  in  that  document  was  far 
ahead  of  judicial  decisions.  Indeed,  it  anticipated  by 
four  years  and  was  a  close  forecast  of  the  opinion  of  Judge 
Sanborn  in  the  Minnesota  rate  cases,  April  29,  1911. 

Supporting  his  argument  in  the  pamphlet  with  a  wealth 
of  citations,  Mr.  Moseley  passed  from  the  assertion  of 
the  exclusive  power  of  Congress  to  regulate  interstate 
commerce  to  the  contention  that  any  attempt  of  a  State 
to  control  interstate  carriers  by  fixing  the  rates  they  shall 
charge  even  within  the  limits  of  the  State  would  involve 
a  conflict  of  power.  This  was  the  closing  paragraph  of 
his  pamphlet :  — 

The  laws  of  a  state  have  no  extra-territorial  force. 
They  can  operate  only  within  its  limits,  and  the  legisla- 
tures of  states  through  which  an  interstate  road  may 
run,  moved  by  local  prejudice  and  whim,  each,  in  time, 
passing  laws  regulating  rates  to  be  charged  by  that  road, 
presents  a  total  lack  of  uniformity.  The  power  in  the 
Federal  government  being  unquestioned,  the  control  by 
it  of  the  interstate  carrier  follows,  even  to  the  extent  of 
controlling  rates  charged  for  transportation  anywhere  on 
its  line.  This  power  arises  not  alone  from  the  commerce 

203 


204  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

clause  of  the  Constitution,  but  from  various  clauses  therein; 
it  is  the  aggregate  of  powers,  both  enumerated  and  im- 
plied, which  constitutes  the  Federal  sovereignty ;  and  it  is 
the  exercise  of  those  powers  which  insures  to  the  greatest 
number  of  the  people  the  greatest  good. 

Mr.  Moseley's  views  of  the  Federal  power  were  so  out  of 
accord  with  the  traditions  of  the  Democratic  party  that 
he  often  lost  patience  with  Democrats  in  Congress,  when 
many  of  them  showed,  particularly  at  first,  a  dread  of  the 
centralizing  tendencies  of  his  various  bills.  It  was, 
however,  a  Democratic  House,  with  a  Democratic  speaker, 
which  passed  his  first  bill,  the  Safety  Appliance  Act  of 
1893.  But  in  his  increasing  absorption  in  subjects  en- 
tirely outside  of  party  politics,  he  quite  lost  interest  in 
partisanship  of  any  brand  and  got  what  he  could  for  his 
cause  out  of  each  of  the  parties. 

Mr.  Moseley  published  and  distributed,  presumably 
at  his  own  expense,  an  eight-page  pamphlet  under  date 
of  December  23,  1906,  championing  the  proposal,  which 
President  Roosevelt  had  indorsed,  of  giving  the  govern- 
ment the  right  of  appeal  on  points  of  law  in  criminal 
cases.  The  pamphlet  was  offered  as  a  rejoinder  to  Mr. 
Milton  H.  Smith,  president  of  the  Louisville  &  Nashville 
Railroad.  A  few  quotations  must  suffice  to  show  the 
vigor  with  which  the  writer  argued  his  case :  - 

As  matters  now  stand,  a  person  charged  with  crime 
under  a  Federal  statute  has  only  to  employ  an  astute 
lawyer  to  draw  up  a  demurrer  to  the  indictment,  charg- 
ing that  the  law  under  which  the  action  is  brought  is 
unconstitutional.  If  a  Federal  judge  can  be  found  to 
sustain  the  demurrer,  the  defendant  goes  free  without 
any  determination  of  the  merits  of  the  case;  and  the 


QUESTIONS  OF  LAW  205 

Government,  having  no  right  of  appeal,  cannot  protect 
the  integrity  of  the  law  by  taking  the  case  to  a  higher 
court  for  review. 

In  other  words,  the  defendant  is  absolved  from  punish- 
ment for  a  crime  of  which  he  may  be  guilty  by  the  deci- 
sion of  an  inferior  court  on  a  mere  point  of  law,  and  there 
is  no  method  by  which  a  higher  court  may  be  brought 
to  say  whether  or  not  the  decision  of  the  lower  court  is 
erroneous.  .  .  . 

In  urging  the  passage  of  the  bill  now  pending  in  Con- 
gress, the  President  used  the  following  language  in  his 
last  annual  message :  — 

"I  cannot  too  strongly  urge  the  passage  of  the  bill  in 
question.  ...  I  have  specifically  in  view  a  recent  deci- 
sion by  a  District  Judge,  leaving  railway  employees  with- 
out remedy  for  violation  of  a  certain  so-called  labor  statute. 
It  seems  an  absurdity  to  permit  a  single  District  Judge, 
against  what  might  be  the  judgment  of  the  immense 
majority  of  his  colleagues  on  the  bench,  to  declare  a  law 
solemnly  enacted  by  Congress  to  be  '  unconstitutional/ 
and  then  deny  to  the  government  the  right  to  have  the 
Supreme  Court  definitely  decide  the  question." 

This  is  the  language  that  aroused  the  ire  of  Mr.  Smith, 
causing  him  to  characterize  the  President's  conduct  as 
" dastardly"  and  charging  him  with  an  attempt  to  intimi- 
date the  Judge.  However,  the  fact  that  Mr.  Smith's 
railroad  was  virtually  the  defendant  in  the  case  referred 
to  by  the  President  may  perhaps  explain  the  violence  of 
the  gentleman's  criticism,  while  at  the  same  time  detract- 
ing from  its  value.  .  .  . 

On  the  invitation  of  the  editor  of  the  New  York  Herald, 
Mr.  Moseley  wrote  a  general  review  of  the  railroad  situa- 
tion, which  was  published  in  that  paper,  on  January  2, 
1908,  and  which  filled  more  than  a  page.  After  discuss- 
ing the  constitutional  and  practical  distinctions  between 
Federal  and  State  control  and  elucidating  the  position  of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  he  unfolded  the 


206  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

story  of  the  progress  and  prosperity  of  the  railroads  of 
the  country. 

Again  the  rule  of  reason,  which  the  Supreme  Court  has 
since  read  into  the  Sherman  Law,  was  discussed  by  Mr. 
Moseley  in  the  appended  letter :  — 

March  24,  1908. 
DEAR  ME.  LOEB  : 

In  Sunday's  Herald  I  noticed,  as  you  will  see  by  the 
inclosed  clipping,  that  it  was  proposed  by  the  President 
to  recommend  to  Congress  the  passage  of  a  law  exempting 
reasonable  combinations  and  reasonable  contracts  from 
the  operation  of  the  anti-trust  law. 

I  am  considerably  disturbed  about  this,  if  the  criminal 
features  of  the  law  are  to  remain,  for  the  reasons  set  forth 
in  the  accompanying  memorandum.  I  am  confident 
that  if  the  proposition  is  made  by  the  President  that  it 
will  be  attacked  by  the  Administration's  opponents,  who 
will  claim  that  it  is  a  covert  attempt  to  destroy  the  law. 

Please  use  your  own  judgment  as  to  speaking  to  the 
President  about  this  matter,  because  I  don't  want  to  be 
in  the  position  of  a  "butter  in,"  and  this  is  written  you 
personally  and  not  officially,  and  without  consultation 
with  others. 

With  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 
HON.  WILLIAM  LOEB,  JR., 

Secretary  to  the  President,  Washington,  D.C. 

Mr.  Taft,  in  the  course  of  his  campaign  for  President 
in  1908,  having  hinted  at  the  policy,  which  he  finally 
adopted,  of  establishing  a  Commerce  Court,  Mr.  Moseley 
did  not  hesitate  to  lay  before  him  the  objections  to  such 
a  policy :  — 

October  12,  1908. 

DEAR  MR.  TAFT: 

Supplementing  my  letter  of  the  tenth  instant,  and 
pursuant  to  my  postscript  thereto,  permit  me  again  to 


QUESTIONS  OF  LAW  207 

advert  to  your  recent  intimation  that  the  functions  and 
duties  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  should  be 
segregated.  Lack  of  time  precluded,  in  my  communica- 
tion of  Saturday,  the  presentation  of  my  views  with  such 
particularity  as  I  believe  expedient. 

I  desire  especially  to  amplify  what  I  had  to  say  with 
reference  to  the  determination  of  what  is  and  what  is 
not  a  reasonable  rate.  This  is  one  of  the  most  important 
duties  of  the  Commission,  and  requires  for  its  perform- 
ance the  exercise  of  functions  preeminently  legislative. 
For  the  Commission  to  act  judicially  in  the  establishment 
of  a  rate  would  be  subversive  of  the  very  purposes  for 
which  this  body  was  created.  The  Commissioners  are 
in  no  sense  judges,  and  the  popular  misconception  to  the 
contrary  is  utterly  without  foundation  in  fact. 

To  elaborate  upon  the  analogy  I  suggested  the  similarity 
between  the  establishment  of  local  cab  tariffs  by  the  Com- 
missioners of  the  District  of  Columbia  and  the  regulation 
of  the  rates  covering  interstate  transportation.  The  jehus 
of  Washington  are  granted  a  hearing  before  the  District 
Commissioners.  They  are  permitted  to  introduce  evi- 
dence as  to  the  prevailing  cost  of  equipment,  fodder  and 
repairs.  They  are  allowed  to  testify  as  to  the  volume  of 
traffic  in  designated  localities.  Then,  from  a  considera- 
tion of  all  these  elements,  the  Commissioners  decide  that 
cab  fares  shall  not  exceed  twenty-five  cents  for  fifteen 
squares. 

There  is  no  actual  relation  between  the  expenditure 
for  equipment  and  maintenance  and  the  charge  prescribed 
for  the  service.  The  exact  cost  of  the  transportation  is, 
in  the  very  nature  of  things,  not  susceptible  of  accurate 
computation.  There  is  no  process  of  deduction  that  could 
yield  the  identical  result  at  which  the  Commissioners 
arrive.  They  establish  what  in  their  opinion  constitutes 
a  fair  return  for  the  services  rendered,  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  cab  driver  as  well  as  protection  of 
the  traveling  public,  but  their  conclusion  is,  in  reality, 
the  product  of  the  merest  guesswork. 

So  with  the  ascertainment  of  reasonable  rates  by  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  Take,  for  instance, 
the  rate  on  hairpins  from  New  York  to  the  Pacific  coast. 


208  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

The  entire  amount  involved  in  the  transportation  of  this 
traffic  aggregates  only  a  few  hundreds  of  dollars.  It 
would  be  absolutely  impossible  to  ascertain  the  ratio  of 
the  wear  and  tear  occasioned  thereby  to  the  general  depre- 
ciation of  equipment.  It  would  be  equally  impracticable 
to  attempt  an  investigation  into  the  intrinsic  cost  of 
transportation.  The  carriers,  however,  have  established 
what  they  believe  to  be  a  rate  commensurate  with  the 
service  expended.  If  the  charges  assessed  under  such 
rate  inflict  hardship  upon  the  dealers  in  the  articles  men- 
tioned, they  may  appeal  to  the  Commission  to  have  such 
rates  for  the  future  reduced.  Precisely  as  in  the  case  of 
the  cab  drivers,  they  may  present  testimony  to  show  that 
the  prevailing  freight  rates  imperil  their  interests.  The 
carriers  may  submit  their  evidence  in  justification  of  the 
tariff  attacked.  The  Commission  weighs  the  proof  offered 
by  both  sides,  determines  the  happy  average,  and  the 
charges  are  reduced  or  not  as  the  circumstances  may 
appear  to  warrant. 

In  any  event,  the  Commission  can  only  guess  at  the 
propriety  of  a  given  rate,  and  in  the  case  stated,  they 
merely  substitute  their  own  estimate  for  the  conjecture 
of  the  railroad  company.  The  decision  of  each  is  char- 
acterized by  a  like  incertitude,  but  it  is  only  reasonable 
to  assume  that  severi  men  of  the  tested  probity  of  the 
Commissioners,  untrammeled  by  the  persuasion  of  self- 
interest,  and  actuated  solely  by  a  desire  to  promote  the  pub- 
lic weal,  would  much  more  nearly  approximate  a  reason- 
able tariff  than  could  the  officials  of  the  railroad  company, 
biased,  as  they  must  necessarily  be,  by  the  proddings  of 
personal  advantage. 

The  carriers  established  rates  in  the  first  instance,  and 
such  charges  remain  in  effect  until  they  are  modified  by 
the  companies  themselves,  or  condemned  as  unreasonable 
by  the  Commission.  The  welfare  of  the  public  can  be 
conserved  only  by  allowing  an  appeal  from  the  otherwise 
arbitrary  fiat  of  the  railroad  companies.  Such  an  appeal 
could  not  be  submitted  directly  to  the  courts  by  the 
parties  aggrieved,  because  the  establishment  of  rates  is  a 
matter  beyond  the  purview  of  judicial  discretion.  There 
has  never  been  an  instance  in  any  court  where  a  com- 


QUESTIONS  OF  LAW  200 

plainant  has  recovered  a  scintilla  of  reparation  because  a 
rate  was  unreasonable. 

This  essential  recourse  can  be  had  only  to  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission.  Their  efforts  have  met 
with  the  unstinted  approval  and  cooperation  of  the 
various  boards  of  trade,  traffic  associations  and  chambers 
of  commerce  through  the  country,  and  the  innumerable 
testimonials  received  at  this  office  from  benefited  com- 
plainants, commendatory  of  their  work,  fully  attest  the 
unqualified  indorsement  of  the  present  regimen. 

The  question  of  rates  involves  a  consideration  of  so 
many  factors  that  it  is  absolutely  essential  that  the 
Commission  shall  have  ready  access  to  all  the  railroad 
tariffs,  contracts,  agreements,  etc.,  now  filed  by  the 
carriers ;  that  they  shall  have  the  power  to  investigate 
at  all  times  the  books  and  accounts  of  railroad  com- 
panies ;  and  that  their  investigations  shall  not  be  circum- 
scribed by  the  inflexible  rules  of  judicial  procedure. 

A  final  appeal  to  the  Federal  courts  should  properly  be 
allowed  from  the  orders  of  the  Commission,  to  secure  an 
ultimate  determination  of  the  Federal  questions  presented, 
as  by  the  suggestion  of  confiscatory  rates,  due  process  of 
law,  etc.,  incidents  protected  by  the  Constitution  of  the 
United  States.  The  question  as  to  whether  or  not  the 
Commission  has  the  power  to  regulate  freight  rates  is 
now  on  certification  to  the  Supreme  Court,  in  the  Wil- 
lamette Valley  lumber  cases,  and  we  will  be  fully  advised 
as  to  the  true  status  of  the  proposition  when  the  decision 
is  handed  down  by  that  tribunal. 

Another  aspect  of  the  situation  to  which  I  wish  to 
direct  your  particular  attention  concerns  the  effectuation 
of  the  Safety  Appliance  Laws.  The  Department  of 
Justice  has  left  almost  entirely  to  the  Commission  the 
prosecution  of  cases  under  these  statutes.  We  have  our 
own  attorneys,  specialists  in  this  branch  of  the  work, 
whose  attention  is  confined  exclusively  to  the  work  of 
this  division.  The  Commission  has  instituted  the  novel 
practice  of  intervening  in  private  causes  whenever  any 
of  the  acts  intrusted  to  them  for  enforcement  are  as- 
sailed. The  result  of  their  efforts  in  the  enforcement  of 
these  laws  is  a  line  of  favorable  decisions  unparalleled  by 


210  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

any  law  on  our  statute  books.  This  same  policy  of 
specialization  is  pursued  by  the  Commission  in  every 
field  of  their  endeavor,  and  it  must,  of  necessity,  produce 
the  very  best  results. 

Our  vigorous  enforcement  of  the  Safety  Appliance 
Laws  has  resulted  in  a  material  reduction  in  the  number 
of  railroad  fatalities,  a  fact  which  is  duly  noted  and 
appreciated  by  our  vast  army  of  railroad  trainmen,  and 
it  may  be  said  with  certainty  that  any  attempt  to  dissi- 
pate the  efforts  of  the  Commission  in  the  execution  of 
these  laws  would  meet  with  an  overwhelming  storm  of 
protest  from  the  beneficiaries  thereunder.  .  .  . 

I  trust  you  will  condone  the  length  of  this  communi- 
cation, which,  I  assure  you  again,  is  prompted  by  a  per- 
sonally, disinterested  desire  to  advance  the  welfare  of  all 
concerned.  As  you  are  aware,  my  position  is  such  that 
I  would  not  be  affected  one  way  or  the  other  by  the  con- 
summation of  your  suggestion,  but  it  occurs  to  me  that 
the  propagation  of  the  ideas  advanced  might  be  unwise 
just  at  this  time. 

I  am,  with  great  regard  and  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


CHAPTER  XXI 
CUBA  AND  THE  COAL  STRIKE 

THE  story  of  Mr.  Moseley's  visit  to  Cuba  on  business  at 
the  time  of  the  unsuccessful  Ten  Years'  War  for  the  libera- 
tion of  the  Island  and  his  acceptance  of  a  hazardous  serv- 
ice for  the  revolutionists  has  already  been  told.  That  early 
experience  lends  added  interest  to  a  useful  work  he  per- 
formed for  Cuba  when  at  last  her  independence  was  won. 

In  the  closing  days  of  the  American  occupation  of  the 
Island,  the  Military  Government  wished  to  prepare  a 
general  railroad  law  and  have  it  in  operation  when  the 
transfer  of  power  to  the  republic  of  Cuba  should  take 
place.  Mr.  Moseley  was  chosen  as  the  adviser  of  those  who 
were  engaged  in  the  task,  and  General  Leonard  Wood,  the 
Military  Governor,  sent  him  the  following  invitation :  — 

HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  GOVERNOR,  ISLAND  OF  CUBA, 

HAVANA. 

December  23,  1901. 

MR.  EDWARD"  A.  MOSELEY,  Secretary,  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission,  Washington,  D.C. 

SIR: 

I  am  proposing  a  general  revision  of  the  existing  rail- 
way laws'of  the  Island,  and  the  Secretary  of  Public  Works 
has  requested  me  to  ask  you  to  give  us  your  assistance, 
thinking  same  will  be  of  great  value.  Could  you  come 
down  here  for  a  couple  of  weeks,  and  if  so,  what  compen- 
sation would  you  desire?  I  would  appreciate  it  very 

211 


212  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

much  if  you  could  come  and  realize  fully  that  your  opinion 
and  assistance  would  be  of  great  service  to  us.  Please 
cable  me  if  you  can  come. 

Very  respectfully, 

LEONARD  WOOD, 
Military  Governor  of  Cuba. 

Mr.  Moseley  was  very  busy  at  the  time,  but,  after  some 
further  correspondence  by  cable,  he  was  convinced  that 
there  was  an  opportunity  to  discharge  an  important  and 
attractive  duty,  and  he  went  to  Havana.  There  he  found 
a  novel  situation  which  appealed  to  his  imagination. 
A  single  American,  in  the  person  of  the  Military  Governor, 
had  the  power  to  adopt  and  enforce,  in  a  month,  a  com- 
plete scheme  of  railroad  regulation  such  as  the  President 
and  Congress  and  Courts  of  the  United  States  thus  far 
had  been  unable  to  formulate  and  establish  for  this 
country,  after  twenty  years  of  discussion. 

When  Mr.  Moseley  arrived  in  Havana,  however,  he 
saw  at  once  that  the  railroads  were  as  keenly  alive  to 
their  interests  in  Cuba  as  they  were  in  the  United  States, 
for  in  the  draft  of  the  law  which  had  already  been  prepared, 
the  welfare  of  the  companies  was  well  guarded.  He  felt 
that  certain  modern  measures  for  the  protection  of  the 
public  had  been  neglected,  and  also  that  the  plan  might 
work  a  harsh  injustice  to  the  employees. 

General  Wood  had  wisely  selected  him  to  revise  the 
draft,  and  when  Mr.  Moseley  had  pointed  out  the  de- 
fects, the  general  asked  him  to  redraw  or  amend  the  regu- 
lations wherever  he  deemed  necessary  and  make  them 
just  to  the  people,  the  railroads  and  their  employees. 
This  he  proceeded  to  do,  and,  conscious  of  the  arbitrary 


CUBA  AND  THE   COAL  STRIKE  213 

power  of  the  Military  Government  behind  him,  he  saw  to 
it  that  Cuba  should  have  a  nearly  ideal  railroad  law. 

Not  only  was  the  Railroad  Commission  authorized  to 
fix  rates,  but  Mr.  Moseley  also  drew  up  a  provision  em- 
powering the  Commission  to  interfere  between  the  rail- 
roads and  their  employees  to  protect  the  latter.  He  in- 
corporated in  the  law  a  virtual  recognition  of  labor 
unions  by  providing  that  employees  might  be  heard 
through  their  representatives  in  these  terms :  — 

"  The  Commission  is  to  revise  and  approve  the  by-laws 
and  working  regulations  of  railroad  companies,  and  all 
such  regulations  pertaining  to  and  affecting  employees 
are  to  be  approved  only  after  the  aforesaid  employees 
and  their  representatives  have  had  opportunity  to  be 
heard  before  the  Commission." 

After  his  return  to  Washington,  Mr.  Moseley  explained 
this  phase  of  his  work  in  the  following  letter,  under  date 
of  March  27,  1902:  — 

I  take  great  pleasure  in  sending  you  a  copy  of  the 
railroad  law  of  Cuba,  which  has  been  established  by  the 
Military  Governor,  Major-General  Wood.  This  law  in- 
cludes a  uniform  classification  and  rules  of  practice  before 
the  Commission,  which  is  created  by  the  law.  This  will 
be  the  railway  law  of  Cuba  after  the  American  occupa- 
tion has  ceased. 

I  went  to  Cuba  to  assist  in  its  preparation  and,  of 
course,  am  very  much  interested  in  it.  From  the  last 
clause  of  the  abstract  of  the  law,  copy  of  which  I  inclose, 
you  will  see  that  I  have  been  doing  some  work  for  the 
men.  I  could  not  well  put  into  the  law  the  word  "  organi- 
zation," but  you  will  readily  understand  that  it  is  an 
encouragement  to  organization  in  that  the  representa- 
tives of  employees  are  recognized. 


214  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

As  I  took  the  responsibility  of  urging  this,  I  trust  you 
will  give  it  whatever  notice  you  deem  proper.  Of  course 
I  do  not  want  to  be  connected  with  the  matter  in  any 
way,  but  I  think  the  credit  should  be  given  to  Major- 
General  Wood,  who  approved  of  its  insertion  in  the  law. 
When  I  returned,  I  told  the  President  what  I  had  done, 
and  in  his  characteristic  way  he  expressed  himself  as 
greatly  pleased  with  it  and  said  :  " Bully,  old  man;  bully 
for  you,  I  cannot  tell  you  how  much  satisfaction  this 
gives  me." 

I  believe  that  the  new  Republic  should  start  off  by 
recognizing  labor  and  the  representatives  of  labor.  I 
expect  to  have  to  go  down  to  Cuba  again  to  aid  in  the 
final  adjusting  of  tariffs.  One  of  the  things  that  the 
people  of  Cuba  have  to  dread  is  the  demands  made  upon 
them  by  the  owners  of  the  railroads  of  Cuba,  who  are 
mostly  foreigners,  and  under  the  circumstances  it  was 
deemed  that  if  a  fair  and  just  law  was  made  the  United 
States  could  assist  the  infant  Republic  in  the  enforcement 
of  it. 

I  believe  it  is  perhaps  the  best  law  upon  the  statute 
books  of  any  country  undertaking  to  regulate  railroads, 
and  there  was  great  necessity  for  it.  The  former  law  put 
the  railroads  of  Cuba  absolutely  under  the  control  of 
the  Minister  of  Public  Works,  and  if  executed  it  would 
have  been  harsh  and  extreme,  but  owing  to  the  venality 
of  the  Spanish  officials  and  their  willingness  to  accept 
bribes,  it  was  more  honored  in  the  breach  than  in  the 
observance. 

On  Mr.  Moseley's  departure  for  Washington,  General 
Wood  wrote  in  appreciation  of  his  services :  — 

HEADQUARTERS  MILITARY  GOVERNOR,  ISLAND  OF  CUBA, 

February  25,  1902. 

HON.   MARTIN  A.  KNAPP,  Chairman  of  the  Interstate 

Commerce  Commission,  Washington. 
SIR: 

I  have  the  honor  to  state  that  Messrs.  Edward  A. 
Moseley  and  Martin  S.  Decker,  Secretary  and  Assistant 


CUBA  AND  THE  COAL  STRIKE  215 

Secretary,  respectively,  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  have  been  detained  in  Havana  upon  my 
request  and  have  rendered  most  valuable  assistance  in 
the  revision  of  the  railroad  laws  of  Cuba  and  the  classifi- 
cation of  rates. 

It  is  regretted  that  they  are  unable  to  remain  longer, 
and  I  beg  to  assure  you  that  their  services  have  been 
most  highly  appreciated  and  will  be  of  great  and  lasting 
benefit  to  Cuba. 

I  hope  that  at  some  early  date  the  Commission  will 
permit  the  return  of  Messrs.  Moseley  and  Decker  to  this 
Island,  as  I  desire  their  assistance  on  the  question  of  the 
railroad  tariff. 

Very  respectfully, 

LEONARD  WOOD, 
Military  Governor  of  Cuba. 

In  a  few  weeks  this  second  call  was  received  from  Gen- 
eral Wood :  — 

HEADQUARTERS  DEPARTMENT  OF  CUBA.     HAVANA. 

April  3,  1902. 

ADJUTANT  GENERAL,  WASHINGTON,  D.C. : 

For  transmission  to  Chairman  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission.  Desire  presence  of  Mr.  Moseley  for  few 
days  !in  Havana  to  confer  with  Railroad  Commission  on 
question  of  rates.  Expenses  will  be  met  from  insular  funds. 

WOOD. 

On  this  second  visit  to  Havana,  Mr.  Moseley  attended 
the  hearing  of  the  protest  from  the  railroads  against  any 
law  being  enforced  affecting  their  interests,  rights,  and 
concessions  under  the  Spanish- American  treaty  of  peace. 
Before  leaving  the  Island,  he  passed  on  the  regulations 
and  tariffs  for  every  railroad  in  Cuba,  and  one  of  the 
principal  railroad  managers  was  not  long  in  acknowledg- 
ing that  while  he  had  bitterly  opposed  the  law  at  first, 


216  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

it  proved  to  be  nearly  perfect  in  operation,  that  the  rates 
were  just  and  that  the  business  had  increased  enormously. 

Mr.  Moseley  had  declined  from  the  outset  to  accept 
pay  for  his  services  to  the  Military  Government,  which 
at  first  General  Wood  was  inclined  to  compensate  out  of 
the  Cuban  treasury  at  the  rate  of  $100  a  day.  After  the 
work  was  finished  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  General  and 
the  Railroad  Commission,  an  allowance  of  $5000  was 
proposed.  Mr.  Moseley  persisted  in  his  refusal  to  accept 
any  money  whatever  for  his  services,  he  having  made  it  a 
rule  in  the  beginning  of  his  official  life  not  to  receive  any  fees 
or  any  form  of  compensation  other  than  his  lawful  salary. 

The  value  of  his  labors  is  a  matter  of  official  record. 
In  his  report  to  the  War  Department,  General  Wood 
said :  — 

Mr.  Moseley 's  work  was  extremely  valuable  and  of 
great  assistance.  His  vast  experience  as  Secretary  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  and  his  clear  judgment 
in  all  matters  involved,  was  of  immense  assistance  in 
rounding  out  the  law,  and  he  virtually  directed  the  regu- 
lations embodied  in  Order  No.  117.  He  also  largely  in- 
fluenced the  provisions  of  Order  No.  61. 

Mr.  Frank  Steinhart,  chief  clerk  of  the  department  of 
Cuba,  also  wrote :  — 

Only  one  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  condition  of 
affairs  then  existing  here  can  appreciate  General  Wood's 
statement  that  your  work  was  extremely  valuable  and  of 
great  assistance ;  that  your  clear  judgment  in  all  matters 
involved  was  of  immense  assistance  in  rounding  out  the 
law,  and  that  you  virtually  directed  the  regulations 
embodied  in  Order  No.  117  and  largely  influenced  the 
provision  of  Order  No.  61. 


CUBA  AND   THE  COAL  STRIKE  217 

Another  interesting  service,  apart  from  his  duty  to 
the  Commission,  fell  to  Mr.  Moseley  when  President 
Roosevelt  appointed  him  an  Assistant  Recorder  of 
the  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Commission  in  1902,  the 
other  Assistant  Recorder  being  Mr.  Charles  P.  Neill, 
afterward  Commissioner  of  Labor,  and  the  Chief  Re- 
corder being  Colonel  Carroll  D.  Wright.  The  dis- 
tinguished men  whom  the  President  selected  to  arbi- 
trate the  dispute  between  employers  and  employees, 
which  had  closed  the  hard  coal  mines  and  threat- 
ened the  country  with  great  hardship  on  the  eve  of 
winter,  requested  Mr.  Moseley  to  act  as  their  disbursing 
officer. 

It  happened,  however,  that  the  Commission  had  no 
funds  to  disburse.  The  law  had  not  created  it,  and  there 
was  no  appropriation  to  meet  its  expenses.  Its  resource- 
ful disbursing  officer,  nevertheless,  arranged  at  once  to 
place  $20,000  at  its  disposal  on  his  own  personal  credit, 
trusting  to  the  fairness  of  Congress  to  reimburse  him. 
When  President  Roosevelt  sent  for  him  to  talk  over  the 
affairs  of  the  Commission,  Mr.  Roosevelt  said,  "The 
Commission  must  not  fail  for  want  of  money;  you  are 
disbursing  officer,  and  if  you  need  funds,  draw  upon  my 
private  purse. " 

"I  am  pleased  to  tell  you,  Mr.  President,"  said  Mr. 
Moseley;  "that  I  have  already  arranged  that  matter  on 
my  own  account." 

The  Scranton  Truth,  published  in  the  city  where  the 
Commission  held  its  sessions,  said  of  Mr.  Moseley  in  a 
personal  sketch :  — 


218  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

If  it  should  be  asked  who  is  the  most  popular  man 
attached  to  the  Anthracite  Commission  among  all  the 
distinguished  persons  brought  here  through  the  sessions, 
there  would  be  a  unanimous  opinion  uttered  that  Assistant 
Recorder  Moseley  is  the  one.  Everywhere  in  demand, 
everywhere  wanted,  everywhere  honored  and  respected, 
and  even  beloved,  he  is  at  once  the  most  necessary  as  well 
as  the  most  unobtrusive  individual  connected  with  the 
hearings.  There  are  few  people  familiarly  seen  about  the 
Lackawanna  County  Court  House,  from  judges  to  scrub 
women,  who  do  not  look  upon  Mr.  Moseley  with  smiles 
of  approval.  It  is  never  too  much  trouble  for  him  to  be 
kind,  and  he  is  never  in  too  much  of  a  hurry  to  be  civil 
to  the  humblest  as  well  as  the  highest. 

He  is  the  one  who  makes  smooth  the  rough  places,  not 
only  for  the  members  of  the  Commission,  but  for  every- 
body in  the  vicinity.  He  always  has  a  supply  of  peace, 
which  he  ladles  out  in  copious  quantities  among  those  who 
are  disposed  to  make  disturbances,  and  his  pacificatory 
methods  would  probably  settle  anything  on  earth  except 
the  present  controversy.  He  is  one  of  the  few  men  in 
this  country  who  have  not  written  a  piece  for  the  news- 
papers, telling  how  to  settle  it,  and  yet  those  who  know 
him  pretty  well  believe  that  he  might  be  depended  on  to 
evolve  a  reasonably  practical  recipe  for  healing  even  these 
grave  differences. 

The  Chairman  of  the  Commission,  Judge  George  Gray 
of  the  Federal  bench,  was  an  old  personal  friend  of  Mr. 
Moseley,  and  when  the  work  of  the  Commissioners  had 
been  successfully  finished  they  were  all  his  personal 
friends.  In  the  closing  days  of  their  work,  they  were 
his  guests  at  dinner  at  the  Metropolitan  Club  in  Wash- 
ington. "Your  recent  services  with  the  Anthracite 
Coal  Strike  Commission,"  Judge  Gray  afterward  wrote 
Mr.  Moseley,  "I  am  sure  were  such  as  to  make  each 
member  of  that  Commission  your  warm  personal  friend." 


CHAPTER  XXII 
A  REPUBLIC'S  GRATITUDE 

THROUGH  all  the  years  Mr.  Moseley  was  tirelessly 
working  for  the  interests  of  others,  he  did  nothing  and 
asked  nothing,  absolutely  nothing,  for  himself.  He  gave 
his  time,  his  money,  and  his  health,  and  took  nothing  in 
return. 

The  man  literally  gave  himself,  and  forgot  his  own 
interests.  He  renounced  all  claim  to  public  applause, 
which  would  have  been  as  gratifying  to  him  as  to  any 
one,  and  cheerfully  passed  over  to  others  the  credit  for 
his  successful  labors. 

He  sought  no  political  advancement  or  official  pro- 
motion. He  asked  for  no  increase  in  salary  in  the  nearly 
twenty-five  years  that  he  held  office,  and  he  brought 
upon  himself  suspicion  and  investigation,  in  an  era  of 
muck  raking,  because  it  was  plainly  to  be  seen  that  he 
was  not  living  on  his  government  pay. 

When  one  or  two  discharged  clerks,  who  must  have 
exhausted  his  almost  boundless  forbearance,  took  re- 
venge by  bringing  charges  of  petty  irregularities  against 
him,  not  before  the  Commission,  but  in  other  quarters 
less  informed,  the  obvious  fact  that  he  was  not  living 
within  his  official  income  was  seized  upon  as  a  suspicious 
circumstance.  Possibly  the  department  which  enter- 
tained the  charges  was  predisposed  to  welcome  them  by 

219 


220  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

its  ambition  to  absorb  some  of  the  functions  of  Mr. 
Moseley's  office,  an  end  which  might  be  promoted  if 
any  looseness  should  be  disclosed  in  his  conduct  of  it. 

It  was  a  time  when  the  muck  raker  was  very  busy  in 
Washington.  Rumor  mongering  and  scandal  mongering 
were  at  a  premium.  The  energies  of  the  secret  service 
were  diverted  from  counterfeiters  and  moonshiners,  while 
its  agents  trailed  and  spied  on  senators  and  representatives 
and  officials  of  the  executive  departments. 

Mr.  Moseley  was  under  this  un-American  kind  of 
espionage  for  weeks  before  he  had  a  hint  of  it.  The 
Commission  was  as  innocent  as  he  of  the  inquisitorial  pro- 
ceedings directed  at  him.  When  at  last  the  secret  serv- 
ice men  disclosed  themselves  to  him,  he  promptly  gave 
them  his  keys  and  free  access  to  everything  within  his 
control,  including  his  personal  correspondence,  his  private 
accounts  in  banks  and  his  private  safe-deposit  com- 
partments. 

This  was  near  the  beginning  of  1904.  Leaving  behind 
him  all  possible  means  of  searching  out  every  trans- 
action in  his  official  and  private  affairs,  Mr.  Moseley 
turned  his  back  on  his  office,  and  went  to  his  home  re- 
solved not  to  interfere  in  any  way  with  the  investigation, 
and  not  to  return  until  exonerated. 

His  friends,  seeing  only  the  absurdity  of  the  thing, 
made  a  jest  of  the  whole  business.  But  he  who  was  by 
no  means  thin  skinned  in  a  fair  fight,  and  always  took 
the  knocks  that  came  to  him  with  a  smile,  showed  him- 
self as  sensitive  in  his  honor  as  a  woman,  and  was  all 
but  overwhelmed  by  the  humiliation  put  upon  him. 


A  REPUBLIC'S  GRATITUDE  221 

Among  his  effects  was  found  this  pathetic  memoran- 
dum, scribbled  with  a  pencil  on  some  little  sheets  of 
paper :  "The  position  which  I  have  been  in  since  Decem- 
ber 31  is  horrible.  .  .  .  After  being  followed  for  six 
weeks  by  secret  service  men,  then  to  be  held  up  in  igno- 
miny for  five  weeks  more  and  kept  in  total  ignorance  of 
the  charges  against  me,  while  the  detective  continues  to 
'run  down  clews/  confers  with  my  accusers,  who  are 
devoid  of  all  character,  and  also  with  every  employee 
who  in  the  past  seventeen  years  has  been  discharged, 
in  the  hope  of  manufacturing  a  case  against  me,  I  have 
refrained,  against  the  advice  of  friends,  from  doing 
anything.  My  regard  for  the  President,  and  my  belief 
in  his  integrity  of  purpose,  have  kept  me  quiet.  I  am 
sure  he  cannot  realize  the  suffering  I  am  made  to  endure, 
inflicted  on  me  in  his  name/' 

His  bearing  in  that  trying  time  was  truly  expressive 
of  the  man  who  was  always  ready  to  defend  a  friend  and 
take  the  part  of  the  under  dog,  joying  in  a  fight  for 
others,  but  who  could  not  lift  a  hand  for  himself  when 
unjustly  and  shamefully  attacked,  and  "  refrained  from 
doing  anything"  for  his  own  protection.  He  waited  at 
his  home  until  President  Roosevelt  sent  for  him  and  told 
him  that,  after  a  searching  investigation,  he  had  been  en- 
tirely vindicated. 

The  official  announcement  of  the  outcome,  in  May, 
1904,  was  made  by  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion which,  after  spreading  on  the  records  of  the  Com- 
mission a  detailed  account  of  the  vindication,  quoted 
this  expression  of  confidence  which  the  Commissioners 


222  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

had  not  hesitated  to  give  him  while  he  was  under  fire, 
and  before  the  investigation  had  exonerated  him. 

We  take  occasion  to  say  further  that  you  have  always 
been,  during  the  entire  period  of  our  association  with  you, 
a  capable,  energetic,  and  trustworthy  official.  While  as 
Secretary  of  the  Commission  your  office  hours  have  not 
been  regulated  by  any  rule,  you  have  shown  your  desire 
to  observe  the  proprieties  of  official  conduct  by  constant 
and  regular  attendance,  frequently,  and  we  think  generally, 
exceeding  the  number  of  hours  required  of  our  clerical 
force,  and  you  have  not  been  known  to  absent  yourself, 
at  any  time  or  for  any  reason,  without  express  permis- 
sion. 

Your  duties  have  been  manifold  and  exacting,  especially 
in  recent  years,  and  those  duties  have  been  discharged 
with  exceptional  zeal  and  fidelity  to  the  public  interest. 
You  have  not  only  been  loyal  to  the  Commission  and 
devoted  to  the  work  in  which  it  is  engaged,  but  your 
efforts  to  secure  wholesome  and  needed  laws  and  enforce 
their  observance  have  promoted  the  cause  of  humanity 
and  entitled  you  to  honorable  distinction. 

Your  personal  conduct  at  the  office  and  elsewhere,  so 
far  as  we  have  had  opportunity  to  observe  it  or  know 
about  it,  has  been  exemplary  and  commendable,  while 
the  unselfishness  and  generosity  of  your  disposition,  par- 
ticularly in  matters  affecting  your  financial  interest,  have 
often  been  the  subject  of  favorable  comment.  In  all  the 
period  of  our  connection  with  the  Commission,  you  have 
never  intimated  a  wish  to  have  your  salary  as  Secretary 
increased,  and  you  have  steadily  refused  to  accept  extra 
compensation  for  your  services  as  disbursing  officer,  al- 
though the  sum  of  $500  a  year  was  voted  to  you  by  the 
Commission  in  1891  and  has  been  offered  at  various  times 
since. 

Besides  this,  you  made  two  trips  to  Cuba  at  the  request 
of  the  Government,  to  revise  the  railway  laws  of  that 
country,  and  declined,  as  we  are  informed  and  believe,  to 
accept  a  fee  of  $5000  which  was  offered  to  you  for  your 
services  in  that  important  matter.  Knowing  these  facts 


A  REPUBLIC'S  GRATITUDE  223 

and  others  of  similar  import,  and  basing  our  opinion  upon 
years  of  familiar  acquaintance,  the  idea  that  you  would 
attempt  to  defraud  the  government  in  the  petty  ways 
stated  in  these  charges  seem  to  us  simply  preposterous. 

In  conclusion  you  are  assured  of  the  confidence  and 
esteem  of  every  member  of  the  Commission. 

This  minute  by  the  Commission  continues :  — 

As  before  stated,  during  all  the  time  the  investigation 
was  proceeding  (nearly  five  months)  Mr.  Moseley  volun- 
tarily remained  away  from  the  office,  not  only  that  the 
fullest  opportunity  might  be  given  to  investigate  his  con- 
duct, from  every  standpoint,  but  also  awaiting  with  confi- 
dence a  complete  vindication  of  his  conduct.  He  has 
served  the  Commission  and  the  Government  conscien- 
tiously for  seventeen  years,  with  the  single  aim  of  doing 
his  duty  to  the  public  and  to  the  Commission,  and  his 
self-respect  led  him  to  absent  himself  until  he  was  fully 
exonerated. 

At  last,  what  Mr.  Moseley  so  confidently  expected,  has 
taken  place.  The  President,  after  carefully  considering 
the  charges  against  him,  has  dismissed  them.  It  has 
been  a  trying  ordeal,  but  Mr.  Moseley  has,  during  the 
whole  time,  been  sustained  by  the  consciousness  that  he 
was  not  guilty  of  any  offense  against  the  Government  or 
the  public  weal,  and  his  whole  official  conduct  was  an 
open  book,  to  which  he  invited  the  closest  scrutiny  and 
research. 

The  Washington  Post  made  this  editorial  comment  on 
the  case :  — 

The  inquiry  into  the  accounts  of  Mr.  Edward  A.  Mose- 
ley, Secretary  and  Disbursing  Agent  of  the  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  has  terminated  in  a  complete  and 
unreserved  exoneration  of  that  gentleman.  It  is  not  only 
that  nothing  has  been  proved  to  his  discredit.  It  is  that 
everything  alleged  or  even  suspected  has  been  entirely 
disproved.  Mr.  Moseley  is  left  without  a  cloud  or  so 
much  as  the  lightest  shadow  on  his  name. 


224  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

No  great  amount  of  wisdom  was  needed  to  foresee  that 
termination.  When  a  public  official,  at  the  first  breath 
of  accusation,  hands  over  his  keys,  books,  papers  and 
property  of  every  kind,  and  studiously  absents  himself 
from  the  office  throughout  the  entire  period  of  the  investi- 
gation he  has  demanded,  he  at  once  relieves  himself,  in 
the  minds  of  all  impartial  and  judicious  men,  of  the  very 
smallest  shadow  of  suspicion.  No  one,  after  that,  imagines 
for  a  moment  that  he  is  conscious  of  any  shortcoming  or 
has  anything  to  fear  from  the  minutest  and  most  jealous 
scrutiny. 

Guilty  men  do  not  adopt  this  course ;  even  men  who 
doubt  their  ability  without  doubting  their  integrity  of  pur- 
pose would  hesitate  at  such  radical  measures  as  Mr. 
Moseley  adopted  and  adhered  to.  His  action  meant  not 
only  that  he  knew  himself  to  be  honest,  but  that  he  knew 
himself  to  be  capable  and  efficient  as  well.  No  other  inter- 
pretation on  that  action  is  conceivable. 

As  we  have  said,  the  inquiry  has  resulted  in  a  complete 
exoneration.  Of  course,  Mr.  Moseley's  friends  were  pre- 
pared for  that,  and  so  indeed  were  all  thoughtful  observers 
of  the  incident.  But  the  country  has  a  new  and  shining 
standard  by  which  to  measure  future  scandals  and  indict- 
ments in  connection  with  Government  officials.  Let  us 
hope  that  we  shall  see  more  of  it. 

Mr.  Moseley 's  mail  was  filled  with  the  rejoicings  and 
congratulations  of  his  friends.  Commissioner  Prouty, 
who  was  absent  from  the  city,  wrote,  "What  I  congratu- 
late you  upon  is,  not  that  the  charges  have  been  dis- 
missed, but  that  your  conduct  has  been  such  that  no  other 
feasible  course  was  open." 

"It  is  almost  worth  while,"  wrote  Judge  Gray  of  the 
United  States  Circuit  Court  of  Appeals,  "to  have  been 
attacked  to  be  so  handsomely  vindicated.  Of  course,  I 
never  had  any  doubt  as  to  the  ultimate  issue  of  the 
investigation." 


A  REPUBLIC'S  GRATITUDE  225 

Mr.  Don  M.  Dickinson,  formerly  Postmaster-General, 
telegraphed  from  Detroit,  "  Congratulations  on  complete 
vindication." 

From  Mr.  Wayne  MacVeagh,  formerly  Attorney- 
General,  came  this  exclamation:  "Over  four  months 
and  a  half  to  find  out  that  you  had  not  been  a  grafter  on 
ice  and  stationery  I" 

Joseph  Nimmo,  the  statistician,  added  this  observa- 
tion to  his  congratulatory  letter,  "You  are  also  to  be 
congratulated  on  the  abiding  trust  of  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  in  your  ability  and  integrity." 

Congressman  Hemenway  wrote  from  his  Indiana 
home,  "I  congratulate  you  and  regret  that  the  Govern- 
ment has  not  more  of  your  kind  occupying  official  posi- 
tions." 

Mr.  W.  J.  Calhoun,  formerly  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mission, afterward  Ambassador  to  China,  wrote,  "If 
you  have  enemies  —  who  has  not  ?  —  I  am  very  glad 
their  attack  only  served  to  make  brighter  your  personal 
and  official  record." 

Mr.  George  R.  Peck,  general  counsel  of  the  Chicago, 
Milwaukee  &  St.  Paul  Railroad  wrote:  "The  whole 
affair  was,  in  my  opinion,  a  disgrace  to  the  civil  service 
of  the  country,  but  your  complete  vindication  was,  in  a 
sense,  a  recompense  for  the  annoyance  to  which  you 
have  been  subjected." 

Mr.  Charles  S.  Hamlin  wrote  from  Boston:  "While 
we  all  knew  the  result  would  be  as  it  is,  yet  it  is  a  satis- 
faction to  have  our  golden  opinion  of  you  duly  verified." 

Professor  Henry  C.  Adams  wrote  from  Ann  Arbor, 
Q 


226  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

"It  seems  to  place  too  much  importance  upon  the  whole 
affair,  to  say  to  you  that  I  congratulate  you  upon  coming 
through  the  ordeal  without  detriment  to  yourself." 

Yet  the  suffering  Mr.  Moseley  endured  at  this  time,  it 
is  not  too  much  to  say,  seriously  undermined  his  health 
and  hastened  his  death.  It  is  a  fact  that  one  of  the  per- 
sons who  made  the  false  accusations  ultimately  came  to 
him  confessing  and  begging  for  assistance,  and  received  it. 

Mr.  Moseley  continued  to  pay  for  the  privilege  of 
working  for  Uncle  Sam  as  he  had  done  every  year  since 
he  took  the  office.  An  inheritance  from  his  uncle, 
William  O.  Moseley,  in  1894,  aided  him  toward  building 
a  house  in  Washington,  and  finally  his  share  of  his  father's 
fortune,  which  came  to  him  hi  1900,  brought  him  a  com- 
petence. 

He,  who  had  no  superior  in  the  public  service  as  a 
promoter  of  measures  in  Congress  and  in  the  executive 
departments,  saw  with  indifference  the  salaries  of  most 
fellow  officials  in  Washington,  including  those  of  his 
Commissioners,  pushed  up  25  and  50  per  cent,  and  did 
not  turn  his  hand  over  to  advance  his  own  salary  from 
the  amount  originally  prescribed  by  Congress  in  1887, 
$3500  a  year.  The  duties  and  responsibilities  of  his 
office  had  been  multiplied  many  times,  but  the  compen- 
sation remained  stationary  for  several  years  more,  and 
he  remained  content.  He  could  lobby  for  others,  but  not 
for  himself. 

When,  without  his  solicitation,  a  motion  was  made  in 
Congress  to  increase  his  salary,  he  stood  by  while  a  few 
men  at  the  Capitol,  whose  antagonism  he  had  aroused 


A  REPUBLIC'S  GRATITUDE  227 

by  his  aggressive  campaigns  for  legislation,  took  their 
revenge  on  him.  Senator  Stephen  B.  Elkins  of  West 
Virginia  eulogized  in  vain  the  disinterested  services  of 
Secretary  Moseley,  whom  he  had  known  ever  since  the 
organization  of  the  Commission,  and  whom  he  pro- 
nounced an  efficient,  able,  and  faithful  official,  one  having 
the  confidence  of  all  the  executive  departments  and  the 
President.  Senator  Elkins  said  in  the  Senate :  — 

Mr.  Moseley  was  appointed  Assistant  Recorder  of  the 
Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Commission  by  President  Roose- 
velt and,  at  the  request  of  the  Commission,  became  its 
disbursing  officer.  All  the  money  expended  by  the  Com- 
mission until  Congress  made  provision,  which  it  was 
doubtful  they  would  do,  was  provided  by  Mr.  Moseley 
on  his  personal  security  alone,  he  thereby  assuming  the 
great  risk  of  Congress  not  making  any  appropriation  for 
the  expenditures  of  the  Commission. 

During  the  American  occupation  of  Cuba,  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  Governor-General  of  that  Island,  Mr.  Moseley 
was  sent  by  the  United  States  Government  to  assist  in 
drawing  a  railroad  law,  to  fix  a  classification  of  articles  of 
freight,  formulate  rules  of  practice,  and  to  fix  railroad 
rates.  .  .  . 

For  his  valuable  work  in  connection  with  drafting  the 
railroad  law  of  Cuba,  Mr.  Moseley  was  informed  by  those 
in  authority  that  they  would  be  pleased  to  pay  him  some 
$5000  out  of  the  revenues  of  the  Cuban  treasury,  and  it 
was  urged  upon  him  that  he  could  properly  accept  it. 
Mr.  Moseley,  however,  refused,  stating  that  all  his  services 
-  time  and  energy  —  belonged  to  the  United  States  Gov- 
ernment wherever  employed,  and  that,  being  assigned  to 
work  in  Cuba,  all  he  was  entitled  to  was  his  actual  living 
and  traveling  expenses. 

The  Secretary  was  marked  out  to  be  excluded  from 
his  share  in  the  upward  trend  of  government  salaries. 


228  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Congress  freely  increased  the  pay  of  incumbents  of  sine- 
cures. Had  the  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  done  nothing  but  plod  along  in  the  path  of 
bureaucratic  routine,  he  would  have  been  rewarded 
without  question. 

Because  he  held  office  not  merely  for  himself,  but  as  a 
vantage  point  from  which  to  forward  the  interests  of 
tens  of  thousands  of  citizens,  who  had  no  Senators  to 
represent  then-  interests,  he  was  singled  out  for  rebuke 
and  punishment  by  men  who  felt  no  enmity  toward  him, 
—  but  toward  his  ceaseless  demands  that  the  railroads 
be  compelled  to  give  better  protection  to  life  and  limb 
and  to  care  for  the  wounded  and  for  widows  and  orphans. 
They  had  no  idea  how  little  he  cared  whether  his 
salary  was  $5000,  $3500,  or  nothing.  If  he  had  really 
cared,  and  had  employed  in  his  own  interest  the  in- 
fluences always  at  his  instant  command,  we  may  be 
sure  that  the  increase  would  have  been  promptly  forth- 
coming. He  accepted  the  discrimination  against  him 
as  a  distinction,  and  it  actually  became  a  point  of  pride 
with  him. 

At  the  next  session  of  Congress,  the  Commission 
formally  and  earnestly  appealed  for  an  increase  in  the 
salary  of  the  Secretary,  not  only  in  justice  to  him,  but 
in  justice  to  subordinates  who  could  not  be  properly 
paid  as  long  as  their  chief  was  underpaid;  and  finally 
the  increase  was  granted.  Chairman  Knapp's  letter 
follows :  — 


A  REPUBLIC'S  GRATITUDE  229 

.  INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION,  WASHINGTON, 
December  17,  1906. 

HON.  JAMES  A.  TAWNEY,  Chairman  Committee  on 
Appropriations,  House  of  Representatives,  Wash- 
ington, D.C. 

DEAR  SIR  : 

The  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  has  the  honor 
to  submit  herewith  a  supplemental  estimate  providing 
for  its  Secretary  a  salary  of  $5000  per  annum  in  place  of 
$3500  fixed  by  the  present  law. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Commission  is  its  chief  executive 
officer,  and  the  amended  act  has  greatly  increased  his 
labors  and  responsibility.  The  present  salary  is  materially 
less  than  the  proper  compensation  of  such  an  official  and 
much  below  the  salaries  paid,  as  we  understand,  to  officials 
of  corresponding  rank  and  duties  in  other  branches  of  the 
public  service.  This  disproportion  is  the  more  notice- 
able because  of  the  relation  of  the  salary  now  paid  the 
Secretary  to  the  increased  salaries  of  the  members  of  the 
Commission  under  the  amended  law. 

From  the  time  of  the  creation  of  the  Commission  nearly 
twenty  years  ago,  Mr.  Edward  A.  Moseley  has  been  its 
Secretary,  and  the  ability  and  zeal  with  which  he  has  dis- 
charged his  duties  are  matters  of  common  knowledge. 
He  enjoys  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  Commission, 
and  its  members  are  unanimous  in  asking  that  he  receive 
the  salary  named  in  the  estimate.  The  position  itself 
and  the  present  incumbent  alike  deserve  the  full  increase 
recommended. 

There  is  a  further  reason  which  we  may  properly  men- 
tion. The  salaries  of  the  Assistant  Secretary  and  other 
subordinates  are  fixed  by  the  Commission,  and  propriety 
requires  that  they  be  adjusted  with  reference  to  the  salary 
which  the  law  fixes  for  the  Secretary.  An  increase  in 
salary  of  the  Secretary  will  enable  the  Commission  to 
properly  advance  somewhat  the  salaries  now  paid  to 
others  whose  long  and  faithful  service,  in  some  cases 
almost  invaluable,  entitle  them  to  increased  compensa- 
tion as  a  matter  of  simple  justice. 

Very  respectfully  yours, 

MARTIN  A.  KNAPP,  Chairman. 


CHAPTER  XXIII 
His  WORK  DONE 

THE  work  Mr.  Moseley  did  in  studying,  formulating, 
and  promoting  the  legislation  which  is  his  monument, 
and  in  defending  and  enforcing  that  legislation  would 
have  absorbed  and  exhausted  the  energies  and  abilities 
of  a  man  of  normal  capacity.  Few  men  would  have 
found  the  time  and  strength  to  do  anything  else.  It 
represents,  however,  only  one  division  of  Mr.  Moseley's 
activities. 

Throughout  the  years  that  he  was  battling  for  those 
laws  in  Congress,  in  the  Courts  and  all  along  the  more 
than  two  hundred  thousand  miles  of  railroads  in  this 
country,  he  was  faithfully  fulfilling  his  arduous,  delicate 
and  responsible  duties  as  Secretary  and  executive  officer 
of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  one  of  the 
most  exacting  posts  in  Washington,  which  would  have 
taxed  to  the  full  measure  the  attention  and  industry  of 
almost  any  other  man.  No  detail  of  his  obligations  to  the 
Commission,  the  Government  or  the  public  was  neglected. 

Many  who  were  interested  only  in  his  discharge  of 
the  functions  of  his  office  looked  upon  his  ceaseless  agi- 
tation for  protective  measures  in  behalf  of  safety  of  life 
on  the  rail  as  a  mere  side  issue,  as  an  amusing  diversion 
or  distraction.  To  them  it  was  "Moseley's  hobby,"  an 
innocent  but  unimportant  affair. 

230 


HIS  WORK  DONE  231 

For  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was  estab- 
lished solely  to  regulate  railroad  rates,  and  its  regulation 
of  the  conditions  of  railroad  labor  naturally  was  regarded 
as  a  digression  from  its  original  duty,  an  offshoot  from 
its  main  purpose,  gratuitously  brought  about  by  its 
Secretary.  There  have  been  members  of  the  Commis- 
sion who  had  little  sympathy  with  his  unending  crusade, 
and  who  were  annoyed  by  the  criticism  which  his  mili- 
tant methods  sometimes  provoked  among  railroad  of- 
ficials. It  is  a  tribute  to  their  forbearance  no  less  than 
to  his  consummate  tact  that  he  was  left  free  to  carry 
on  his  various  campaigns.  It  was  the  silent  expression 
of  the  Commission's  esteem  and  of  its  sense  of  his  value. 

While  much  of  his  propaganda  was  outside  all  official 
bounds  and  therefore  had  to  be  forwarded  without  in- 
volving the  Commission,  whenever  he  spoke  or  acted  as 
its  representative,  that  body  loyally  stood  behind  him, 
and  thereby  made  possible  the  work  he  did.  There  is 
no  purpose  in  these  pages  to  award  to  the  Secretary  any 
credit  which  the  Commission  or  any  one  else  is  entitled 
to  share  with  him,  although  in  a  personal  sketch  it  would 
be  difficult  to  avoid  giving  such  an  impression.  No  one 
can  follow  his  activities,  mark  the  advanced  position 
which  he  boldly  took  on  many  questions  and  occasions, 
and  note  the  powerful  influences  which  he  successfully 
combated,  without  admiration  for  the  confidence  and 
constancy  of  the  Commission  in  sustaining  him. 

His  personal  relations  with  the  Commissioners  were 
helpful  and  friendly  and  often  intimate  and  affectionate. 
The  most  politic  of  men,  he  aided  to  harmonize  their 


232  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

inevitable  differences  and  secure  united  action  on  the 
questions  that  came  before  them.  He  administered  the 
oath  of  office  to  new  members  and  freely  opened  to  them 
the  storehouse  of  his  long  experience.  It  chanced  some- 
times that  he  participated  in  their  selection,  and  was 
the  first  to  give  them  the  good  news,  for  he  was  ever 
vigilant  to  promote  the  appointment  of  progressive  men 
on  the  Commission. 

As  early  as  1891  he  was  writing  to  an  absent  member 
on  the  occasion  of  a  vacancy :  — 

This  Commission  is  in  a  mighty  lame  position.  The 
Chairman  will  never  come  here  again,  I  am  sure.  Vir- 
tually there  will  be  two  new  men  coming  into  the  Com- 
mission, and  that  within  a  short  time.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  the  man  appointed  to  succeed  Commis- 
sioner Bragg  should  be  a  man  who  has  some  familiarity 
with  this  subject,  and  that  it  should  not  be  parceled  out 
to  somebody  or  other,  or  even  to  a  man  who  may  have 
won  distinction  in  something  else. 

The  President  rarely  hastens  in  matters  of  this  sort, 
but  I  am  awfully  afraid  that  somebody  may  get  a  hold 
before  you  can  see  him  and  tell  him  the  situation.  But, 
for  God's  sake,  Mr.  Commissioner,  don't  let  anybody 
get  into  this  Commission,  if  you  can  help  it,  that  is  not 
going  to  be  an  aid  and  assistance  to  it !  I  don't  care 
about  myself,  but  this  question  is  so  great  and  over- 
powering, that  my  only  thought  is  that  the  Commission 
shall  not  go  down  under  the  trials  and  troubles  which 
are  constantly  being  heaped  upon  it,  and  that,  now  the 
opportunity  is  here,  some  strong  man  should  be  put  into 
the  harness,  to  help  draw  the  load. 

This  letter  is  in  the  strictest  confidence  to  you,  and  it  is 
only  because  you  are  not  here.  I  do  pray  that  you  will 
communicate  to  the  President  something  or  other,  which 
will  deter  him  from  taking  any  hasty  action.  I  am  here 
on  the  spot,  and  appreciate  everything.  For  God's  sake, 
do  act ! 


HIS  WORK  DONE  233 

The  Secretary's  opposition  to  a  candidate  for  a  seat 
at  the  Commission  table  in  the  McKinley  administration 
took  the  form  of  a  movement  of  protest.  President 
McKinley  had  indicated  his  approval  of  the  candidacy, 
but  the  applicant  had  a  record  as  a  judge  which  Mr. 
Moseley  regarded  as  unsuited  to  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mission, and  he  went  after  him,  although  he  took  his 
official  life  in  his  hands  when  he  did  it.  The  President 
told  the  judge's  friends  that  if  they  would  see  that  the 
objections  were  withdrawn,  he  would  nominate  him,  but 
Mr.  Moseley  did  not  yield  to  the  pressure  brought  to  bear 
directly  upon  himself  as  the  instigator  of  the  remon- 
strance, and  the  selection  was  not  made.  The  man's 
transparent  unselfishness  never  failed  to  vindicate  his 
actions. 

In  the  discharge  of  the  strictly  official  duties  of  his 
office,  Mr.  Moseley  proved  himself  a  most  efficient  execu- 
tive. When  he  became  Secretary  of  the  Commission  in 
1887,  it  was  a  bureau  of  the  Interior  Department,  with 
a  staff  of  five  clerks.  He  saw  the  Commission  become 
independent  of  any  department,  not  far  from  six  hundred 
and  fifty  persons  on  its  roll  of  employees,  and  the  annual 
appropriation  for  its  maintenance,  of  which  he  was  the 
disbursing  agent  for  many  years,  increased  to  $1,800,000. 

He  saw  the  files,  which  he  started,  grow  until  they 
held  ten  million  documents  and  papers,  and  the  library 
of  the  Commission  prosper  until  it  was  pointed  to  with 
envy  by  the  officials  of  other  governments  and  was 
rivaled  in  its  completeness  only  by  the  far  older  library 
of  the  railroad  bureau  of  Prussia. 


234  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

As  Secretary,  he  examined  every  detail  of  his  work, 
with  the  purpose  of  promoting  the  convenience  of  the 
Commission  and  its  staff  and  the  service  of  the  public. 
Whenever  a  decision  was  to  be  announced  by  the  Com- 
mission, the  representatives  of  the  press  were  warned  of 
its  coming,  in  order  that  all  should  have  a  fair  and  equal 
chance.  A  synopsis  was  then  carefully  prepared  and 
sent  to  such  newspapers  as  cared  to  have  it.  The  opin- 
ions were  also  sent  to  the  parties  immediately  interested, 
and  in  some  instances  every  operating  railroad  in  the 
United  States  was  served  with  a  copy,  under  the  seal  of 
the  Commission  and  by  registered  mail.  Comparing 
the  system  which  he  pursued  with  that  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  he  once  wrote :  — 

The  Supreme  Court  decisions  are  declared  from  the 
bench.  One  may  go  every  Monday,  which  is  the  day  set 
for  decisions,  month  in  and  month  out,  awaiting  the  court's 
determination,  until  patience  almost  ceases  to  be  a  virtue. 
At  last  the  opinion  is  rendered  orally  by  one  of  the  Judges. 
It  is  weeks  afterwards  when  the  full  report  is  obtained, 
and  it  is  sold  to  anybody  who  desires  a  copy.  No  service 
is  had.  Anybody  who  wants  a  decision  of  the  Court  goes 
to  the  clerk's  office  and  pays  for  it.  Such  a  thing  as  a 
synopsis  of  the  opinion  is  unheard  of. 

The  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion, who,  it  is  claimed,  has  an  equal  right  to  the  per- 
quisites of  his  office,  can  truthfully  say  that  anything 
that  the  Commission  has  in  the  way  of  papers  can  be  had 
for  the  asking.  There  has  never  yet  been  an  intimation 
that  any  citizen  of  this  country  has  obtained  information 
in  advance  of  anybody  else  or  has  been  able  pecuniarily 
to  profit  by  it. 

In  accordance  with  Mr.  Moseley's  conception  of  public 
service,  everything  was  made  free  from  the  beginning, 


HIS  WORK  DONE  235 

and  the  Secretary  never  collected  a  fee  or  made  a  charge 
in  any  transaction.  He  declined,  as  previously  stated, 
even  to  accept  extra  compensation  for  his  work  as  dis- 
bursing officer  of  the  Commission.  His  ideal  was  to 
place  the  facilities  of  his  office  freely  at  the  service  of  the 
public,  with  the  minimum  cost  of  money  and  time, 
using  every  endeavor  to  bring  the  Commission  into  the 
closest  and  most  cordial  relations  with  the  country. 

In  the  course  of  his  service  more  than  one  hundred 
thousand  answers  to  letters  were  sent  out  over  his  sig- 
nature. To  most  of  them  he  gave  a  personal  touch,  and 
the  persons  to  whom  they  were  sent  were  made  to  feel 
that  their  efforts  and  wishes  were  noted  and  appreciated. 
United  States  attorneys  have  said  that  their  correspond- 
ence with  him  was  more  satisfactory  than  their  relations 
with  any  other  department  of  the  Government. 

No  letter,  formally  prepared  by  any  of  the  officials  of 
the  Commission,  could  get  by  him  with  an  error  or  blun- 
der in  it.  His  power  of  instant  detection  of  such  mis- 
takes was  a  gift.  When  handed  fifty  or  one  hundred 
letters  for  his  signature,  he  went  over  them  rapidly  but 
thoroughly,  and  it  was  almost  impossible  for  a  mistake 
to  escape  his  eye. 

He  had  a  wide  correspondence  outside  that  arising 
from  the  routine  of  his  office,  a  correspondence  in  which 
he  exchanged  views  with  judges  and  lawyers,  economists, 
railroad  officials,  and  the  representatives  of  railroad 
brotherhoods.  From  time  to  time  he  wrote  papers  and 
delivered  public  addresses  on  the  subjects  with  which 
his  work  dealt.  Both  these  and  his  letters  display  not 


236  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

only  the  development  of  his  legal  learning  and  his  reason- 
ing faculties,  but  thoroughness  and  taste  in  their  prepara- 
tion. When  engaged  in  preparing  them  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  dictating  to  his  stenographer  his  ideas  in  the 
rough,  and  then  giving  the  copy  to  one  or  two  of  his 
assistants  who  were  acquainted  with  the  subject.  Upon 
their  verification  and  formulation  of  his  ideas  according 
to  their  best  judgment,  he  revised  and  re-shaped  the  docu- 
ment to  suit  himself,  and  then  again  had  the  matter  put 
in  form.  Sometimes  it  went  through  two  or  three  hands 
before  it  was  fully  satisfactory. 

When  it  was  finally  in  shape,  the  product  was  essen- 
tially his  own.  The  quotations  and  citations  in  almost 
all  cases  were  suggested  by  him,  but  of  course  the  literal 
examinations  of  the  quotations  at  the  original  sources 
had  been  carefully  made  by  others. 

A  trusted  and  loyal  member  of  the  staff  has  drawn  this 
picture :  — 

Mr.  Moseley's  methods  of  work  were  indirect  and  some- 
what peculiar.  He  seldom  went  at  a  thing  in  such  a  way 
as  to  disclose  to  his  assistants  just  what  he  was  doing. 
In  the  initial  stages  of  his  work  for  the  accomplishment  of 
a  particular  object,  it  was  his  custom  to  have  several 
persons  at  once  working  out  his  plans,  each  entirely 
ignorant  of  what  the  others  were  doing,  and  all  completely 
in  the  dark  concerning  his  object. 

He  would  come  to  me,  for  instance,  and  tell  me  to  do  a 
certain  thing,  perhaps  involving  considerable  research, 
such  as  digging  through  the  Commission's  statistical  re- 
ports or  foreign  reports,  without  giving  me  the  faintest 
idea  of  what  he  wanted  to  show  or  the  purpose  for  which 
he  desired  the  information.  After  taking  the  matter  up 
and  working  on  it  for  perhaps  a  week  or  more,  I  would 


HIS  WORK  DONE  237 

be  very  likely  to  discover  that  several  other  persons  were 
working  on  the  same  thing,  all  as  much  hi  the  dark  as 
myself,  and  all  entirely  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  others 
were  doing  the  same  thing  as  themselves. 

This  method  of  work  was  rather  exasperating  at  times, 
and  I  was  never  quite  able  to  adjust  myself  to  his  point 
of  view.  I  suppose  he  reasoned  that  results  obtained  in 
this  way  were  more  likely  to  be  accurate,  because  they 
would  not  be  affected  hi  any  degree  by  the  personal  views 
of  the  workers,  and  one  man's  work  would  check  another's 
in  such  a  way  that  errors  hi  the  final  result  would  be 
practically  eliminated.  At  any  rate,  it  did  not  set  very 
well  at  tunes  to  find,  after  turning  in  the  result  of  several 
days7  or  weeks'  close  work,  that  five  or  six  other  persons 
had  been  doing  the  same  thing  as  yourself  (only  perhaps  in 
a  different  way)  and  you  had  not  known  a  thing  about  it. 

Mr.  Moseley  was  a  keen  observer,  and  had  a  most 
remarkable  memory.  His  faculty  of  going  over  a  written 
page  and  getting  the  meat  out  of  it  almost  at  a  glance 
was  almost  uncanny.  This  was  especially  true  of  court 
decisions.  He  would  run  through  a  decision  in  a  case 
which  interested  him  almost  as  fast  as  he  could  turn  the 
pages,  and  when  he  was  through  he  could  tell  clearly  just 
what  the  decision  contained. 

Perhaps  months  after  he  had  run  through  a  decision 
in  this  apparently  cursory  and  hurried  manner,  some  other 
case  would  be  brought  to  his  attention,  involving  the  same 
or  similar  points.  He  would  then  remember  the  former 
decision  and  cite  its  essential  features  almost  word  for 
word.  Time  and  again  have  I  heard  him,  when  in  con- 
sultation with  the  Commission's  attorneys  about  im- 
portant features  of  court  decisions,  cite  to  them  decisions 
made  months,  or  perhaps  years,  previously  —  decisions 
that  bore  with  compelling  force  upon  the  points  under 
discussion  —  and  when  they  were  looked  up  it  would  be 
found  that  his  memory  of  them  was  absolutely  accurate. 

When  working  to  secure  an  end  which  he  had  set  his 
heart  upon,  he  used  every  instrumentality  that  came  to 
his  hand,  which  promised  in  any  degree  to  aid  his  purpose, 
irrespective  of  his  personal  likes  or  dislikes.  In  that 
respect  he  was  certainly  a  remarkable  man.  He  would 


238  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

cheerfully  and  persistently  work  with  men  for  whom  he 
had  the  utmost  contempt  if  he  thought  that  by  placating 
them  they  could  in  any  degree  aid  him  in  his  work. 

Time  and  again  have  I  known  of  his  enduring  snubs 
from  petty-souled  individuals,  and  taking  without  ap- 
parent resentment  actual  insults  from  men  who  were 
not  worthy  to  wipe  his  boots  (so-called  leaders  of  the 
workingmen  whom  he  labored  to  serve)  rather  than  break 
with  them  and  thus  lose  their  influence  for  his  measures. 
He  has  even  let  it  be  thought  that  such  men  were  more 
entitled  to  credit  for  his  measures  than  he  himself !  He 
never  broke  with  any  man,  no  matter  what  the  provoca- 
tion, as  long  as  he  needed  the  assistance  of  that  man  in 
any  degree  for  the  accomplishment  of  his  purpose. 

On  the  other  hand,  he  seemed  to  forget  his  friends,  if 
their  friendship  was  likely  to  injure  his  measures.  I  have 
known  him  to  ignore  men  for  whom  he  had  the  highest 
regard,  when  the  circumstances  were  such  that  any  par- 
ticular show  of  cordiality  for  a  certain  individual  might 
have  influenced  the  action  of  another  man,  of  whom  he 
perhaps  thought  lightly,  in  a  way  to  jeopardize  a  bill  for 
which  he  was  working.  In  short,  his  work  was  impersonal 
to  a  greater  extent  than  that  of  any  other  man  I  have 
ever  known. 

He  had  strong  likes  and  dislikes,  naturally,  and  would 
do  anything  in  the  world  for  a  friend,  but  in  performing 
his  work  he  picked  his  instruments  without  reference  to 
their  character,  affiliations  or  disposition  toward  himself. 
And  his  judgment  in  picking  the  right  instruments  was 
almost  perfect.  In  all  my  association  with  him  I  never 
knew  him  to  be  deceived  in  a  man. 

An  able  and  intimate  associate  has  drawn  this  sketch 
of  Mr.  Moseley  at  work :  — 

I  wish  I  could  give  you  a  vivid  picture  of  how  he  did 
his  work  :  how  in  the  early  morning  before  coming  to  the 
office  he  would  call  on  such  officials  and  public  men  as 
could  be  of  service  in  formulating  sentiment  and  public 
opinion  upon  the  matters  in  which  he  was  interested  .  .  . 


HIS  WORK  DONE  239 

how  he  took  home  with  him  to  his  room  and  went  over 
not  only  the  particular  problems  of  the  Commission,  but 
those  broader  questions  of  public  interest  into  which  the 
Commission  work  dovetailed,  and  studied  them  until  late 
into  the  night,  or  discussed  them  with  some  co-worker 
until  from  sheer  fatigue  he  dropped  into  slumber. 

Of  course  he  worked  too  hard.  His  energy,  which  was 
dynamic,  was  used  unstintingly  and  ungrudgingly  in  the 
consideration  and  development  of  the  advanced  problems 
of  this  generation. 

When  he  first  took  up  his  work  in  1887,  Mr.  Moseley 
was  in  vigorous  athletic  condition.  But  his  rugged 
strength  and  health  began  to  break,  under  his  unsparing 
demands  upon  them,  a  dozen  years  and  more  before  his 
death.  For  the  last  four  years,  it  might  be  said  that  he 
faced  death  in  a  hand-to-hand  fight.  But,  deaf  to  the 
anxious  entreaties  of  family  and  friends,  he  never  re- 
lented and  never  gave  up  while  it  was  possible  for  him  to 
stand.  One  or  two  brief  outings  only  gave  him  some 
respite,  and  he  enjoyed  a  trip  to  Quebec  and  St.  Anne 
de  Beaupre,  which  he  took  with  his  brother-in-law,  Otis 
Livingston  Prescott,  as  much  as  he  had  enjoyed  a  trip 
to  Europe  in  the  early  seventies. 

Some  letters  among  his  papers  which  were  called  out 
on  the  occasion  of  his  first  serious  illness,  when  he  had 
gone  to  his  Massachusetts  home  to  recuperate,  testify 
to  the  tender  solicitude  of  the  Commission.  The  Chair- 
man wrote  him :  — 

INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION  WASHINGTON, 
September  25,  1907. 

MY  DEAR  MOSELEY: 

The  telegrams  received  yesterday  afternoon  and  to-day 
have  given  us  all  the  greatest  pleasure. 


240  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

We  were  certain  that  the  newspaper  reports  were 
grossly  exaggerated,  but  these  reports  were  so  persistent 
that  we  felt  some  anxiety,  which  was  happily  removed  by 
your  encouraging  messages. 

Let  me  repeat  what  I  wired  you  yesterday.  Give 
yourself  up  to  the  business  of  recovering  with  the  same 
confidence  and  singleness  of  purpose  that  you  always 
bring  to  the  discharge  of  your  official  duties.  Do  not 
allow  any  distress  of  mind  about  office  matters  to  stand 
in  the  way  of  your  speedy  restoration  to  health.  We  will 
all  do  the  best  we  can  without  you  and  only  ask  that  you 
accept  the  situation  with  patience  and  hopefulness.  That 
is  the  unanimous  and  earnest  sentiment  of  the  entire  office. 

I  have  taken  up  with  the  architect  the  matter  of  our 
hearing  room  and  am  to  have  another  interview  with 
him  to-morrow.  Clements  and  Clark  will  be  here,  and 
we  shall  have  the  benefit  of  their  suggestions.  I  am  sure 
we  shall  have  a  very  dignified  and  satisfactory  place  in 
which  to  conduct  our  public  hearings. 

What  you  say  about  the  National  Convention  of  Rail- 
road Commissioners  is  at  once  correct  and  important.  I 
think  it  is  a  great  opportunity  to  avoid  friction,  promote 
uniformity  of  policy  and  action,  and  so  perform  a  dis- 
tinctly useful  public  service.  I  shall  urge  my  associates 
to  show  their  interest  in  this  gathering  and  intend  to  be 
present  myself  at  all  the  important  sessions.  .  .  . 

Give  my  kindest  regards  to  all  your  family  and  accept 
for  yourself  the  assurance  of  my  constant  and  unaffected 
friendship. 

Yours  very  truly, 

MARTIN  A.  KNAPP. 

This  letter  from  Commissioner  Harlan  was  found 
among  Mr.  Moseley's  papers :  — 

WASHINGTON,  October  1,  1907. 
DEAR  MR.  SECRETARY: 

I  reached  Washington  Saturday  night,  but  came  to  the 
office  for  the  first  time  this  morning  and  then  found  your 
note  of  the  27th,  which  was  forwarded  to  me  here  from 


HIS  WORK  DONE  241 

Essex.  I  was  very  glad  to  hear  from  you  and  especially 
to  know  that  the  specialist  from  Boston  has  given  you  so 
favorable  an  account  of  your  condition. 

It  seems  to  me  that  we  were  all  of  us  lacking  in  con- 
sideration in  not  insisting  upon  your  taking  a  long  vaca- 
tion, as  the  rest  of  us  did.  You  ought  not  to  have  come 
back  to  Washington  at  that  time.  I  hope,  however,  that 
you  will  take  a  good  long  rest  and  will  not  think  of  re- 
turning to  your  desk  until  you  are  thoroughly  recuperated. 
You  certainly  are  entitled  to  this,  and  I  am  sure  that  it 
is  the  sensible  thing  to  do. 

Although  we  shall  miss  you,  as  we  always  do  when 
you  are  absent,  I  am  sure  that  my  colleagues  will  wish 
you  to  carry  out  this  suggestion.  I  know  of  no  change 
or  readjustment  that  is  contemplated  in  the  office  force 
or  assignment  of  rooms  that  has  not  already  had  your 
attention.  If  any  changes  are  suggested,  they  can  very 
well  wait  until  your  return. 

You  will  of  course  be  very  much  missed  at  the  National 
Convention  of  Railroad  Commissioners.  .  .  . 

Please  give  my  best  regards  to  Mrs.  Moseley,  and 
believe  me,  as  ever 

Your  sincere  friend, 

JAMES  S.  HARLAN. 
HON.  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY, 

Deer  Island,  Newburyport,  Mass. 

P.S.  If  there  is  anything,  officially  or  personally, 
that  I  can  do  for  you  during  your  absence,  please  do  not 
hesitate  to  let  me  know.  It  will  be  a  pleasure  to  be  of 
service  to  you. 

It  is  pleasing  to  quote  another  letter  from  the  Chair- 
man, written  later  in  Mr.  Moseley's  absence :  — 

WASHINGTON,  October  18,  1907. 
MY  DEAR  MOSELEY: 

It  gives  me  the  greatest  pleasure  to  learn  from  your 
letters  and  otherwise  that  you  are  making  rapid  recovery 
and  looking  forward  to  an  early  return  to  your  work. 

You  are  greatly  missed,  and  it  will  be  a  day  of  delight 


242  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

when  you  come  back  to  us.  But,  my  dear  friend,  let  me 
advise  you  to  take  time  enough,  while  you  are  in  that 
line  of  business,  to  get  thoroughly  well  before  you  again 
put  on  the  official  harness.  There  is  no  chance  that  the 
job  will  be  finished  during  your  absence;  it  will  last  long 
after  you  put  your  hand  to  it  once  more,  and  most  likely 
be  bigger  than  it  is  now  when  you  and  I  are  both  released 
from  its  burdens  permanently. 

Be  good  to  yourself  for  a  while,  as  you  have  so  long 
been  good  to  every  one  else,  and  give  to  yourself  the  rest 
of  body  and  mind  which  you  have  so  faithfully  earned. 
In  all  things  you  have  my  unaffected  sympathy  and 
friendship,  and  I  am  always 

Your  sincere  friend, 

MARTIN  A.  KNAPP. 

The  last  step  in  the  Federal  regulation  of  car  appliances 
for  the  safety  of  trainmen  was  taken  on  April  14,  1910, 
when  the  President  signed  an  act  of  Congress  looking  to 
a  uniform  equipment  of  all  cars.  This  marked  the  com- 
pletion of  the  work  for  safety  appliances  which  Mr. 
Moseley  began  twenty  years  before. 

Under  the  operation  of  the  Act  of  1893,  the  first  bill 
which  he  championed  and  the  first  assertion  of  the  power 
of  Congress  to  regulate  the  conditions  of  railway  labor, 
all  the  hundreds  of  thousands  of  cars  in  the  country  had 
been  equipped  with  automatic  air  brakes  and  uniform 
automatic  couplers.  Under  the  Act  of  1910,  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission  was  empowered  and  re- 
quired to  prescribe  and  dictate  every  other  detail  in  the 
equipment  of  a  car. 

To-day  no  car  can  be  hauled  on  a  railroad  engaged  in 
interstate  commerce  unless  it  has  automatic  couplers 
and  air  brakes,  and  henceforth  every  new  or  rebuilt  car 


HIS  WORK  DONE  243 

must  conform  to  all  the  other  standards  set  up  by  the 
law  and  the  Commission.  In  the  course  of  a  short  time 
a  brakeman  or  switchman  will  be  secure  in  the  assurance, 
as  he  goes  about  his  work  in  the  darkness  of  night,  that 
all  cars,  whether  from  Maine  or  Oregon,  Montana  or 
Florida,  will  have  grab  irons  in  one  certain  position,  all 
ladders  will  be  in  the  same  place  and  with  the  same  num- 
ber of  rungs,  all  sill  steps  will  be  just  so  far  from  the 
ground  and  no  higher,  and  all  running  boards  exactly  the 
same  width. 

By  July  16,  1916,  the  standardization  of  the  cars  must 
be  completed.  No  more  will  the  trainmen  be  required 
in  the  night  to  hazard  life  and  limb  on  the  guess  as  to 
whether  the  ladder  is  on  the  end  or  the  side  of  the  car, 
whether  the  sill  step  is  two  feet  or  three  from  the  ground, 
or  whether  the  running  board  of  the  next  car  is  broader 
or  narrower  than  the  one  from  which  he  leaps  as  he 
races  over  the  swinging,  jumping  train.  Poor  guessing 
of  one  kind  and  another  cost  six  hundred  and  sixty-six 
railroad  employees  their  lives  in  one  year  and  brought 
injuries  to  fourteen  thousand  eight  hundred  and  sixty- 
nine  others.  Hereafter,  by  the  law's  command,  all  cars 
will  be  constructed  in  these  respects  precisely  alike,  and 
the  cars  of  every  train  must  be  twenty-four  inches  apart 
when  coupled  and  moving.  No  detail  of  the  conditions 
surrounding  trainmen  is  now  left  to  chance. 

When  the  Commission  held  its  hearing  in  October, 
1910,  for  the  discussion  of  the  proper  regulations  under 
this  last  law  in  the  remarkable  code  of  useful  statutes 
which  Mr.  Moseley  had  done  so  much  to  construct,  he 


244  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

was  mortally  ill.  Against  the  warning  of  physicians  and 
the  pleas  of  those  about  him,  he  took  an  active  part  in  a 
long  session  in  the  hearing  room  of  the  Commission, 
determined  to  finish  his  work.  There  he  fell  at  his  post 
of  duty,  "  collapsing/'  as  the  press  dispatch  of  the  day 
reported,  "in  the  very  hour  of  winning  his  twenty-year 
fight." 

He  had  loyally  and  gladly  spent  the  last  ounce  of  his 
energy  in  behalf  of  the  good  cause,  to  which,  in  the  vigor 
of  his  prime,  he  had  dedicated  his  life,  and  in  his  home  at 
Washington  under  the  loving  care  of  his  wife  and  his 
daughter,  Katherine  Prescott  Moseley,  he  uncomplain- 
ingly awaited  the  end,  which  came  on  April  18,  1911, 
less  than  a  month  after  he  entered  his  sixty-sixth  year. 
"His  patience  and  sweetness  under  his  long  suffering," 
a  dear  friend  has  recalled,  "were  infinite  and  filled  his 
nurses  and  his  indefatigable  and  great  physician,  Dr. 
Philip  Roy,  with  wonder  and  affection.  At  9  o'clock  the 
last  night  he  discussed  the  points  of  a  Supreme  Court 
decision,  holding  the  pamphlet;  at  five  the  next  morn- 
ing, .with  his  hand  beneath  his  cheek,  he  fell  asleep." 

His  death  called  out  many  words  of  regret  and  praise 
from  the  press  and  from  public  men.  On. the  occasion 
of  his  funeral  at  historic  St.  John's  church  in  Washing- 
ton, the  railroad  workers  of  the  United  States  by  delega- 
tions and  floral  offerings  expressed  their  sorrow  over 
the  death  of  their  champion,  a  sentiment  which  at  sub- 
sequent National  conventions  they  entered  in  their 
records  by  the  adoption  of  resolutions.  The  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission  recorded  as  a  body  the  heavy 


HIS  WORK  DONE  245 

sense  of  loss  that  each  of  its  members  felt;  and  from 
societies  and  individuals  all  over  the  country  messages 
of  sympathy  came  to  the  bereaved  family. 

Mr.  Moseley's  life  was  at  a  low  ebb  when  he  had  in- 
sisted on  leaving  his  loved  retreat  at  Deer  Island  in 
the  fall.  But  the  ruling  passion  was  strong  as  ever,  and, 
paying  no  heed  to  his  duty  to  himself,  he  had  hearkened 
to  the  old  call  of  duty  to  others. 

Now  his  tasks  were  done,  he  was  borne  home  again; 
the  prayers  were  said  and  the  songs  sung  in  old  St.  Paul's 
at  Newburyport,  where  when  a  boy  he  was  confirmed, 
and  the  wearied  body  rested  at  last  by  the  shores  of  the 
Merrimac. 


CHAPTER  XXIV 
A  BROAD-GAUGE  AMERICAN 

MANY  wondered  when  they  saw  Edward  A.  Moseley, 
with  eight  or  ten  generations  of  Puritan  ancestry  stretch- 
ing behind  him,  selected  President-General  of  the  Ameri- 
can-Irish Historical  Society,  while  many  others,  who 
knew  nothing  of  his  New  England  background,  assumed 
he  was  a  product  of  our  recent  immigration. 

Mr.  James  Jeffrey  Roche  said  that  Mr.  Roosevelt,  in 
a  friendly  talk  early  in  his  term,  bracketed  him  and  Mr. 
Moseley  together  as  "you  Irish  Catholics."  Apparently 
the  President  had  not  guessed  then  that  the  President- 
General  of  the  American-Irish  Historical  Society  was 
quite  as  old  an  American  as  himself,  and  had  been  born 
into  the  Protestant  Episcopal  church.  Indeed,  his 
mo ther's  father,  Rev.  Dr.  Chapman,  was  sufficiently 
distinguished  among  the  learned  clergy  of  that  church 
to  receive  the  favorable  attention  of  Cardinal  Newman 
in  his  "Essays  Critical  and  Historical." 

It  was  very  like  Mr.  Moseley  not  to  be  content  to 
prove  his  eligibility,  by  right  of  descent,  to  membership 
in  the  Society  of  Colonial  Wars,  the  Sons  of  the  Revolu- 
tion and  the  Society  of  the  Cincinnati,  but  also  to 
search  out  proofs  of  his  qualification  for  admission  to 
the  Charitable  Irish  Society  of  Boston  and  to  the  Ameri- 

246 


A  BROAD-GAUGE  AMERICAN  247 

can-Irish  Historical  Society.  In  the  beginning,  his  in- 
terest in  this  branch  of  his  ancestry  probably  was  a  part 
of  his  loyalty  to  O'Reilly,  but  he  broadened  it  into  an 
expression  of  his  instinctive  antipathy  to  all  racial  nar- 
rowness. 

"My  descent/ '  he  wrote,  "from  Irish  ancestry,  of 
which  I  am  justly  proud,  and  also  from  the  English  and 
Welsh,  not  only  enables  me  to  regard  myself  as  among 
typical  Americans  in  respect  to  origin,  as  well  as  aspira- 
tions and  pride  of  country,  but  renders  me  fondly  sym- 
pathetic with  the  aims  and  purposes  of  this  American- 
Irish  society.  The  main  purpose  of  the  American-Irish 
Historical  Society  is  to  elucidate  the  history  of  the  Irish 
element  of  our  people  and  the  extent  of  its  contributions 
to  our  development  and  civilization  since  the  earliest 
colonial  period,  a  rich  and  greatly  neglected  field  for 
historical  research. " 

He  found  that  he  was  ninth  in  descent  from  Lieu- 
tenant Thaddeus  Clarke,  a  native  of  the  north  of  Ire- 
land, who  was  sent  to  Portland,  Maine,  in  1690,  in  charge 
of  a  small  body  of  troops.  In  one  of  the  fights  with 
the  Indians,  Lieutenant  Clarke  and  twelve  of  his  men 
were  led  into  ambush  and  killed.  He  was  also  eleventh 
in  descent  from  George  Cleaves,  who  he  believed  came 
from  Ireland,  and  who  was  the  original  founder  of  the 
town  of  Falmouth,  which  is  now  a  part  of  Portland. 

Mr.  Moseley  was  proud  of  his  election  as  the  second 
President-General  of  the  American-Irish  Historical  Society 
in  succession  to  Rear  Admiral  Richard  W.  Meade, 
U.S.N.,  in  1897,  and  of  the  honor  of  reelection  to  that 


248  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

office.  On  first  taking  his  place,  he  delivered  a  carefully 
prepared  and  able  address  on  the  services  of  his  prede- 
cessor, Admiral  Meade,  and  on  the  general  subject  of  the 
Irish  influence  in  American  history.  An  interesting 
service  which  he  performed  while  President-General  is  re- 
corded in  the  following  letter :  — 

AMERICAN-IRISH  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY,  Office  of  the  Presi- 
dent-General, Washington,  D.C. 

June  27,  1898. 

T.  HAMILTON  MURRAY,  ESQ.,  Secretary-General,  Ameri- 
can-Irish Historical  Society,  Providence,  R.I. 

DEAR  MR.  SECRETARY-GENERAL: 

I  regret  exceedingly  that  I  shall  be  unable  to  be  present 
at  the  outing  of  our  society  at  Newcastle,  having  just 
returned  from  an  official  trip  to  the  Pacific  coast,  where 
I  have  been  since  the  25th  of  last  May.  I  particularly 
regret  this,  as  I  have  been  looking  forward  to  it  with  a 
great  deal  of  anticipation,  it  being  usual  for  me  to  come 
home  by  the  last  of  June. 

Sometime  ago,  at  the  happy  request  of  my  friend,  Mr. 
M.  E.  Hennessey,  of  the  Boston  Globe,  I  urged  upon 
Hon.  John  D.  Long,  Secretary  of  the  Navy,  the  propriety 
of  naming  some  vessels,  about  to  be  built,  for  three  naval 
heroes  of  Irish  stock,  Commodore  John  Barry,  Com- 
mander Macdonough,  Captain  Jeremiah  O'Brien,  that  it 
would  be  but  a  proper  recognition  of  the  Irish  element 
which  had  taken  so  prominent  a  part  in  our  navy  of  the 
past.  At  the  time  I  received  his  assurance  that  he  would 
see  what  could  be  done,  and  it  resulted  in  his  determi- 
nation to  call  two  torpedo  boat  destroyers  Barry  and 
Macdonough,  and  a  torpedo  boat  O'Brien,  all  about  to 
be  built.  I  inclose  a  memorandum  of  the  dimensions  of 
these  vessels. 

My  request  to  the  Honorable  Secretary  was  made  as 
President-General  in  behalf  of  the  Society,  and  I  feel 
that  the  formal  thanks  of  the  Society  are  due  to  Governor 
Long  for  his  cheerful  compliance  with  the  request.  At 


A  BROAD-GAUGE  AMERICAN  249 

the  same  time  it  should  not  be  overlooked  that  the  sug- 
gestion originated  with  our  friend  Mr.  Hennessey.  Should 
the  Society  see  fit  to  recognize  Secretary  Long's  action, 
I  should  be  pleased  to  communicate  its  thanks  to  him. 
I  am, 

Fraternally  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY,  President-General. 

Another  recognition  of  his  breadth  of  spirit,  which 
pleased  Mr.  Moseley,  was  his  selection,  in  1907,  to  serve 
on  a  distinguished  committee,  representing  all  creeds, 
charged  with  presenting  a  portrait  of  Cardinal  Gibbons 
to  the  Catholic  University  in  Washington.  In  accepting 
the  appointment,  he  wrote :  — 

I  consider  it  a  very  high  honor  to  be  selected  as  a 
member  of  such  a  committee  and  thank  you  most  heartily 
for  suggesting  my  name  in  that  connection.  I  respond 
the  more  readily  to  your  request  for  the  reason  that  I 
hold  His  Eminence  in  the  very  highest  respect. 

Situated  as  I  am  here  in  close  proximity  to  His  Emi- 
nence, it  has  perhaps  been  my  good  fortune  to  have  an 
exceptional  opportunity  to  observe  and  admire  his  admi- 
rable traits  of  character.  I  am  a  profound  admirer  of  his 
intense  Americanism  and  the  enthusiasm  which  he  dis- 
plays in  the  advancement  of  every  good  cause.  Inde- 
pendently of  the  high  and  honorable  position  he  occupies 
in  his  great  church,  I  consider  that  he  stands  among  the 
very  highest  of  our  citizens  and  is  entitled  to  the  love, 
admiration  and  respect  of  all  men. 

With  his  active  membership  in  the  American-Irish 
Historical  Society,  Mr.  Moseley  was  a  no  less  loyal 
member  of  older  patriotic,  historical,  and  sociological 
organizations.  He  was  on  the  standing  committee  of 
the  Massachusetts  Society  of  the  Cincinnati;  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Sons  of  the  Revolution;  of  the  Society  of 


250  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

Colonial  Wars,  of  which  he  was  Chancellor ;  of  the  Bun- 
ker Hill  Monument  Association;  of  the  Merrimac  Hu- 
mane Society;  of  the  American  Association  for  Labor 
Legislation ;  of  the  American  Association  for  the  Advance- 
ment of  Science;  of  the  American  Political  Science 
Association;  of  the  National  Geographical  Society  and 
American  Economic  Society.  He  was  besides  a  member 
of  the  Metropolitan,  Army  and  Navy,  Chevy  Chase, 
and  Cosmos  clubs  of  Washington. 

In  a  little  talk  at  a  dinner  of  the  Cincinnati  in  Wash- 
ington, it  was  characteristic  of  Mr.  Moseley  that  he 
should  have  dwelt,  not  on  the  pride  of  lineage,  but  on 
democracy  as  the  great  legacy  of  the  Revolution  to  all 
Americans,  share  and  share  alike :  — 

Happy  was  the  idea  which  has  resulted  in  bringing 
together  on  this  occasion  those  of  us  residing  at  the  nation's 
capital.  Although  we  are  very  properly  denied  the 
privilege  of  being  a  society  as  of  the  thirteen  original 
states,  we  can  meet  together  as  a  committee,  forming  and 
cementing  those  friendships  which  it  was  the  purpose  of 
our  fathers  to  perpetuate. 

They  were  the  leaders  in  our  struggle  for  independence, 
who  not  only  risked  their  lives  upon  the  field  of  battle, 
but  also  the  punishment  meted  out  to  traitors.  They 
left  to  us  a  heritage  of  glory  which  it  is  our  duty  and 
privilege  to  maintain,  not  in  vain  boasting  of  our  fathers' 
deeds,  not  in  seeking  social  rank,  and,  least  of  all,  in  no 
offensive  assertion  of  superiority  of  birth. 

Neither  exclusiveness  nor  gradations  of  social  distinc- 
tion, but  democracy  and  the  brotherhood  of  man,  is  the 
lesson  our  fathers  taught  and  which  we,  their  loyal  sons, 
should  manifest  and  teach.  No  prestige  or  applause  is 
due  to  us  for  what  our  fathers  dared  and  did.  The  glory 
is  theirs  alone.  Responsibility  alone  is  ours,  that  our 
generation  may  not  impair  their  glory  or  their  work. 


A  BROAD-GAUGE  AMERICAN  251 

The  result  of  their  work  for  the  welfare  of  humanity 
must  not  be  dissipated. 

The  inheritance  of  their  glory  is  not  ours  alone ;  all 
Americans  share  it.  Every  faithful  and  patriotic  Ameri- 
can is  an  heir  of  the  Revolutionary  fathers  though  he  may 
be  of  foreign  birth  and  recent  arrival,  if  he  takes  up  the 
duty  and  responsibility  of  citizenship  in  their  spirit  of 
devotion  to  the  welfare  of  all. 

The  only  true  way  in  which  we  may  share  the  glory 
of  our  fathers  is  by  devoted  adherence  to  their  broad 
democracy ;  by  aiding  in  our  generation  the  uplift  of 
humanity  and  by  jealous  guardianship  of  the  government 
they  created,  lest  its  benefits  be  dissipated. 

If  their  work  is  to  be  immortal,  and  we  of  all  men  do 
not  doubt  it,  the  ark  of  the  covenant  of  the  Nation's 
liberties  must  be  safeguarded  in  each  generation.  It  is 
for  us  to  see  that  we  are  aligned  in  the  ranks  of  freedom's 
preservers,  if  we  would  be  worthy  descendants  of  those 
who  established  liberty. 

And  especially  must  we  remember  that  the  foundation 
of  the  works  of  our  fathers  was  the  imperishable  principle 
that  all  men  are  created  free  and  equal.  Government  is 
not  by  the  select  for  the  select.  All  the  people  know 
more  than  some  of  the  people.  All  the  rights  and  inter- 
ests of  all  the  people  must  not  be  submerged  in  protecting 
some  of  the  rights  of  some  of  the  people. 

This  seems  to  me  the  lesson  they  teach  in  the  present 
hour.  In  the  hearts  of  all  the  people,  especially  of  our 
statesmen,  should  be  implanted  the  seed  of  universal 
brotherhood.  Let  us,  then,  fulfill  our  duty  to  our  fathers 
by  a  performance  of  duty  as  we  find  it  day  by  day.  Let 
us  draw  no  lines  of  race  or  creed,  or  of  the  " guinea  stamp." 

With  benevolence  to  all  and  pandering  to  none,  by 
kindly  deeds,  pure  thoughts  and  honest  zeal,  let  us  serve 
our  fellow  men.  Thus  we  shall  honor  and  perpetuate  the 
principles  which  justify  our  being. 

In  the  closing  year  of  his  active  life,  the  University 
of  Notre  Dame,  one  of  the  oldest  of  the  institutions  of 
higher  education  in  the  Middle  West,  conferred  on  Mr. 


252  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

Moseley  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  a  recognition  of 
his  work  which  brought  him  much  satisfaction.  Going 
to  the  seat  of  the  University  at  Notre  Dame,  Indiana, 
he  received  the  degree  on  June  13,  1910,  Governor  Mar- 
shall of  Indiana,  who  was  among  those  so  honored  on 
the  same  day,  delivering  the  principal  address. 

The  director  of  studies  made  the  announcement  of 
Mr.  Moseley's  degree  in  these  words:  "A  humanitarian 
who  has  employed  the  powers  of  his  great  office  for  the 
protection  of  human  life,  whose  work  as  Secretary  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission  for  twenty-three  years 
has  been  marked  by  energetic  and  sustained  devotion  to 
official  duty,  to  whose  beneficent  activities  the  industrial  as 
well  as  the  traveling  public  are  debtors,  and  whose  freedom 
from  self-seeking  is  such  a  noble  example  of  patriotism." 

Mr.  Moseley  received  the  degree  from  the  hands  of 
the  Papal  Delegate  to  the  United  States,  now  Cardinal 
Falconio.  His  new  honor  brought  him  many  pleasant 
words  of  congratulation.  As  he  was  leaving  Washington 
for  Notre  Dame,  President  Taft  jokingly  asked  him  to 
tell  the  faculty  that  he  had  always  entertained  the  very 
highest  opinion  of  their  university  until  he  learned  they 
were  about  to  confer  this  degree. 

Dean  Mussey  of  the  Washington  College  of  Law  wrote 
to  congratulate  Mr.  Moseley,  saying,  "The  reasons  for 
granting  it  (the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws)  are  of  the 
highest  and  have  been  well  earned  by  you.  The  Wash- 
ington College  of  Law  congratulates  you  on  this  latest 
honor  and  congratulates  itself  that  you  are  willing  to 
assist  us  as  a  member  of  the  lecture  corps."  Judge 


A  BROAD-GAUGE  AMERICAN  253 

De  Lacy  of  the  Washington  Juvenile  Court  wrote:  "It 
is  an  honor  well  bestowed  upon  a  gentleman  who  is  well 
versed  not  only  in  the  theory  of  the  law,  but  in  its  actual 
working  between  man  and  man.  You  are  entitled  to 
receive  this  degree  from  the  university  of  experience  as 
well  as  from  a  university  of  letters. "  Mrs.  Harriet 
Prescott  Spofford,  his  sister-in-law,  wrote,  "It  is  a  real 
crown  to  your  work." 

In  an  editorial  comment,  the  Springfield  Republican 
said:  "He  has  been  a  good  friend  of  the  railway  em- 
ployees in  Washington  and  of  the  railways  as  well,  when 
the  broad  view  is  taken.  Long  service  is  behind  the 
conferring  of  a  degree  that  is  stretched  to  meet  all  sorts 
of  demands. " 

Specially  pleasing  was  the  letter  from  Father  Cava- 
naugh,  head  of  the  University,  in  which  he  said  to  the 
new  honorary  alumnus:  "You  carried  away  with  you 
the  affection  of  all  at  the  University.  I  never  knew 
anybody  to  capture  so  completely  the  hearts  of  all." 

A  railway  workman  wrote  to  the  University  to  thank 
it  for  recognizing  the  friend  of  the  railway  workers,  than 
whom  "there  is  not  a  man  in  the  world  who  has  done 
more  for  the  advancement  of  the  welfare  of  the  man 
who  labors  with  his  hands."  Among  Mr.  Moseley's 
papers  this  copy  of  a  communication  on  the  subject  was 
found,  but  with  no  name  attached :  — 

OUR  NEW  COLLEAGUE  : 

From  the  fo'castle  of  the  good  ship  Amarintha  to  tho 
sublime  degree  of  a  Doctor  of  Laws :  long  stretch  of  life 
full  of  altruistic  effort ! 


254  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

No  man  has,  in  these  United  States,  done  more  for  a 
peaceful  solution  of  the  relations  between  master  and 
servant  than  this  new  Doctor  of  Laws,  because  he  recog- 
nizes that  the  science  of  laws  deals  not  with  concepts,  but 
with  things  or  facts  and  not  with  talk  about  facts.  The 
distinction  between  the  two  is  the  recognition  between 
realities,  combined  with  human  sympathy,  and  the 
formal  twaddle  of  the  school-trained  lawyers,  who  some- 
how get  on  our  benches.  Human  sympathy  seems  to  be 
the  key  to  the  solution  of  his  public  success,  while  from 
the  private  side,  a  complete  lack  of  envy  of  the  achieve- 
ment of  others  is  his  great  characteristic. 

Long  life  and  continued  success  in  his  self-appointed 
task! 


CHAPTER  XXV 
A  RECOKD  OF  FRIENDSHIPS 

UNLIKE  many  strong  men,  Mr.  Moseley's  strength 
was  proved  by  his  friendships  far  more  than  by  his 
enmities.  To  be  sure,  he  made  enemies  as  well  as  friends, 
but  he  never  remembered  the  former  and  never  forgot 
the  latter. 

His  life  is  a  record  of  friendships  with  all  manner  and 
conditions  of  men.  If  assembled  together,  they  would 
form  an  extraordinary  social  medley,  for  there  never  was 
the  faintest  trace  of  a  class  line  drawn  between  them  by 
him.  He  had  no  use  for  any  subdivisions  of  the  human 
family.  It  was  with  him,  as  his  friend  O'Reilly  said  of 
Edmund  Burke :  — 

Races  or  sects  were  to  him  a  profanity, 
Hindoo  and  Negro  and  Celt  were  as  one, 
Large  as  mankind  was  his  splendid  humanity, 
Large  in  its  record  the  work  he  has  done. 

The  man  was  filled  with  the  spirit  of  helpfulness,  and 
no  one  could  ask  for  or  have  a  more  loyal  and  effective 
friend  at  court.  He  was  always  ready  to  make  the 
interests  of  others  his  own,  and  superior  to  his  own. 
There  was  nothing  within  honor  that  he  would  not  do 
for  another ;  he  seldom  had  anything  to  ask  for  himself. 

In  the  easiest  and  commonest  form  of  generosity,  he 
gave  away  no  one  knows  how  much  money,  and  he  least 

255 


256  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

of  all,  for  he  gave  it  freely  and  with  never  a  thought  of 
what  was  left.  But  with  every  such  gift  he  gave  some- 
thing dearer  and  rarer  than  money  —  himself. 

He  was  constantly  appealed  to  and  forever  giving  his 
time  and  influence  in  behalf  of  those  who  stood  in  need 
of  his  service.  The  need  was  the  only  test ;  it  made  no 
difference  if  the  man  was  a  stranger,  or  more  than  a 
stranger,  a  one-time  enemy.  One  who,  in  blindness  of 
soul,  was  brutally  cruel  to  him  in  his  boyhood,  came  to 
him  in  after  years  in  need  of  his  assistance  and  received 
it  ungrudgingly  and  instantly. 

A  favor  seeker  at  his  office,  who,  in  a  moment  of  passion 
and  disappointment,  called  him  "a  liar,"  was  promptly 
knocked  down,  though  half  his  age  and  twice  his  weight, 
and  then  he  received  " first  aid"  from  the  hand  that 
felled  him,  and,  finally,  the  favor  he  sought. 

A  friendless  Swede,  a  common  soldier,  having  been 
thrown  in  the  guardhouse  for  his  ignorance  of  formalities 
in  appealing  to  the  Secretary  of  War  for  his  discharge 
from  the  army,  Mr.  Moseley  no  sooner  heard  of  the  poor 
fellow's  plight  than  he  dropped  everything  to  gain  this 
stranger's  liberty.  Learning  that  the  Secretary,  Mr. 
Endicott,  was  absent  from  the  department  for  the  day, 
he  could  not  wait  for  his  return,  but  hastened  to  his 
house  and  laid  the  case  before  him.  Secretary  Endicott, 
being  accustomed  to  such  appeals,  did  not  at  once  share 
his  visitor's  excitement  over  the  arrest  of  the  soldier,  and 
coolly  promised  to  have  the  proper  authorities  investigate 
the  matter  when  he  returned  to  his  office. 

"But,  Mr.  Secretary,"  Mr.  Moseley  urged,  "the  man 


A  RECORD  OF  FRIENDSHIPS  257 

will  be  lying  in  that  guardhouse  all  the  time,  and  for  no 
other  offense  than  having  dared  to  address  a  simple  letter 
to  you  !  And  you  did  not  resent  his  writing  you,  but 
referred  it  to  the  commandant  of  his  post  for  a  report  on 
the  merits  of  his  request,  and  this  brass-buttoned  under- 
strapper in  his  offended  dignity  has  locked  him  up." 

Thus  he  persisted,  until  he  had  communicated  some  of 
his  warmth  to  the  Secretary.  When  he  came  away  at 
last,  he  bore  with  him  a  peremptory  order  from  Mr.  Endi- 
cott,  which  before  night  unlocked  the  prison  door  five 
hundred  miles  away,  and  permitted  the  surprised  prisoner 
to  rejoin  his  comrades  in  the  barracks,  a  free  man. 

Any  one,  native  or  foreigner,  black  or  white,  could 
touch  Mr.  Moseley's  heartstrings  and  call  into  action  all 
his  force.  Some  one  told  him  the  story  of  Ung  Wah,  a 
cook  in  the  navy,  locked  up  in  the  naval  prison  as  a  de- 
serter. He  brought  the  case  of  this  Chinese  before  the 
Secretary  of  the  Navy  at  once,  and  asked  for  his  release. 
He  argued  in  vain.  He  pleaded  that  this  foreigner 
could  not  understand  the  significance,  force  and  effect 
of  the  naval  regulations  and  should  not  be  imprisoned. 
But  he  made  no  impression,  and  was  informed  that  there 
were  many  other  Chinese  who  were  in  prison  for  the  same 
offense. 

Still  he  did  not  give  up  the  fight  for  the  prisoner. 
Reflecting  upon  the  subject  with  close  concentration,  as 
was  his  wont,  the  idea  came  to  him  that  as  the  Chinese 
could  not  be  naturalized  and  could  not  be  citizens,  this 
man  could  not  take  a  valid  oath  of  allegiance.  Yet  the 
taking  of  the  oath  was  a  condition  precedent  to  entering 


258  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

the  army  and  navy  of  the  United  States,  and  therefore 
Ung  Wah's  enlistment  was  void  !  He  never  was  lawfully 
in  the  naval  service,  and  could  not  be  imprisoned  for 
deserting  the  service  into  which  he  never  had  been  legally 
sworn.  The  ingenuity  and  the  force  of  this  argument 
were  effective,  and  Secretary  Long  released  Ung  Wah  and 
several  other  Chinese  who  were  serving  sentences. 

Ung  Wah,  on  his  liberation  from  prison,  opened  a 
restaurant  in  Washington,  became  a  real  estate  owner 
and  prosperous  merchant,  remaining  to  the  end  a  grate- 
ful and  faithful  friend  of  the  man  who  had  so  successfully 
befriended  an  unknown  alien.  The  following  letter  gives 
additional  evidence  of  Mr.  Moseley's  interest  in  the 
Chinese :  — 

September  21,  1909. 

MR.  A.  T.  STEWART,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  Franklin 
Building,  Washington,  D.C. 

DEAR  MR.  STEWART: 

The  bearer  of  this  is  Lee  Jin,  a  young  Chinaman,  who 
has  been  in  this  country  for  about  six  years  and  whose 
father  is  a  Chinese  merchant.  He  came  here  for  the  pur- 
pose of  obtaining  an  education,  and  I  have  taken  much 
interest  in  him.  He  has,  as  I  understand,  passed  the  8th 
grade,  and  is  now  just  entering  the  Business  High  School. 

Lee  Jin  has  an  aptitude  for  mechanics,  and,  after  con- 
sultation with  Dr.  Hardesty,  we  think  his  interests  would 
perhaps  be  advanced  by  transferring  him  to  the  McKinley 
High  School,  and  it  is  with  this  purpose  that  I  write  you. 
He  is  an  intelligent  young  Chinaman,  is  ambitious,  and 
has  a  desire  to  acquire  a  knowledge  of  machinery  such 
as  we  understand  a  course  in  this  school  would  give  him. 

Will  you  kindly  look  the  young  man  over,  and  make 
such  arrangements  as  you  may  deem  wise  ? 
With  great  respect, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


A  RECORD  OF  FRIENDSHIPS  259 

A  Greek  boy,  detained  at  an  immigration  station,  was 
about  to  be  deported,  when  Mr.  Moseley  heard  of  the 
case  from  a  friend.  He  labored  so  ardently  with  the 
Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor  and  with  the  Com- 
missioner of  Immigration  that  the  order  of  deportation 
was  reversed  and  the  gates  of  the  land  of  promise  were 
opened  to  the  stranger,  who  made  it  his  first  duty  after 
being  permitted  to  step  upon  American  soil,  to  write  a 
grateful  letter  to  the  author  of  his  good  fortune.  The 
letter  was  in  Greek,  but  Mr.  Moseley  took  the  trouble 
to  have  it  translated,  and  he  replied  to  it  with  some 
sound  and  useful  counsels  to  the  new  American. 

There  is  a  characteristic  touch  in  this  letter  to  a  Vir- 
ginia colored  woman,  the  mother  of  one  of  his  servants, 
to  each  of  whom  he  always  stood  as  a  friend  rather  than  a 
master :  — 

October  1,  1909. 
MRS.  AMANDA  GORDON, 
Prospect,  Va. 

DEAR  MAMMY: 

Carry  tells  me  that  you  would  like  some  alcohol  for 
rubbing.  I  therefore  take  great  pleasure  in  sending  by 
express  a  quart,  which  you  should  get  at  once,  and  I 
hope  it  will  do  you  a  great  deal  of  good. 

Carry  is  a  good  girl,  and  we  all  think  everything  of 
her.  I  am  very  glad  to  do  anything  for  her  dear  mother 
that  will  please  her.  She  is  often  telling  us  about  you 
and  how  much  she  thinks  of  you.  You  know  I  have 
always  wanted  you  to  come  up  here  and  make  us  a  visit, 
but  somehow  or  other  you  have  never  done  it. 

I  am  sorry  to  hear  that  you  are  not  well,  but  hope  this 
letter  will  find  you  better. 

Sincerely  yours, 

EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY. 


260  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

He  was  as  quick  to  give  his  seat  in  a  street  car  to  a  poor 
old  negro  working  woman  as  to  any  member  of  her  sex. 
In  his  own  freedom  from  race  prejudice,  he  so  far  under- 
estimated the  strength  of  that  feeling  in  others  as  to  chal- 
lenge the  color  line  on  Southern  railroads.  He  resolved 
on  an  effort  to  enforce  the  " civil  rights"  of  the  colored 
man  in  Pullman  cars  south  of  the  Mason  and  Dixon  line. 
Two  inspectors  were  sent,  with  one  of  the  colored  mes- 
sengers of  the  Commission,  to  get  evidence  of  discrim- 
ination, and  they  plunged  into  the  very  heart  of  the  black 
belt.  They  found  the  discrimination  without  any  diffi- 
culty, but  they  did  not  find  it  an  easy  task  to  escape 
with  their  lives  after  insisting  upon  Pullman  accommoda- 
tions for  the  messenger,  who,  a  member  of  the  staff  says, 
"  almost  turns  white  to-day  when  any  one  suggests  a 
repetition  of  his  trip." 

In  a  letter  to  an  old  friend  living  abroad,  Mr.  Moseley 
gave  this  hint  of  the  philosophy  which  so  largely  gov- 
erned his  life :  — 


You  say  that  I  do  not  tell  you  anything  about  myself. 
I  presume  I  am  the  same  Ned  Moseley  you  used  to  know, 
only  a  little  older.  I  must  say  that  time  has  dealt  kindly 
with  me,  and  I  feel  most  of  the  time  as  young  as  I  ever 
did.  The  only  way  I  am  reminded  of  my  advancing 
years  is  by  my  being  reminded  ever  and  anon  of  my  old 
friends  dropping  off. 

Everything  is  going  very  pleasantly  with  me.  You 
know  I  have  devoted  my  life  to  the  interests  of  the  man 
with  the  patched  trousers  and  have  been  quite  successful. 
...  It  is  a  very  comforting  thought  that  this  work 
has  saved  many  a  poor  devil  from  death  or  injury  and 
kept  many  a  good  right  arm  to  support  a  family;  but 


A  RECORD  OF  FRIENDSHIPS  261 

the  espousal  of  the  cause  of  the  "under  dog"  is  not  pro- 
ductive of  great  honors  in  a  material  sense. 

However,  if  the  world  is  a  little  better  for  my  having 
lived  in  it,  I  am  satisfied.  I  have  sometimes  thought  that 
if  I  had  devoted  the  same  time  and  energy  to  fighting 
the  cause  of  the  corporations,  my  material  benefits  would 
have  been  greater  and  the  reward  more  substantial ;  but 
I  have  never  regretted  my  choice. 


CHAPTER  XXVI 

THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN 

To  portray  Moseley  the  man  would  be  a  difficult  task 
and  one  for  which  this  pen  at  least  is  confessedly  unequal. 
The  elements  were  so  mixed  in  him,  his  nature  and  his 
interests  so  various,  that  his  oldest  and  closest  friends 
were  always  making  surprising  discoveries  of  unsuspected 
traits  and  talents,  until  they  no  longer  smiled  at  John 
Boyle  O'Reilly's  proud  boast  of  his  friend,  "Ned  Moseley 
can  do  anything  that  any  man  can  do." 

Reticent  and  often  preoccupied  at  a  casual  meeting, 
simple  and  modest  in  every  relation,  most  persons  could 
see  no  more  than  one  side  of  the  man ;  few,  if  any,  knew 
all  of  his  many  sides. 

His  gift  for  concentration  and  his  boyish  enthusiasm 
enabled  him  to  take  up  any  duty  or  pastime  and  pursue 
it  as  if  it  were  his  only  object  in  life.  It  was  this  quality 
which  deceived  mere  acquaintances  into  believing  that 
they  had  taken  the  full  measure  of  the  man  when  they 
had  seen  but  a  fraction  of  him.  Those  who  saw  him  at 
his  sports  might  easily  believe  he  was  only  a  sport ;  not 
a  few  who  saw  him  carrying  on  his  fights  for  labor  laws 
supposed  he  must  have  come  up  from  the  ranks  of  labor ; 
they  who  saw  him  so  enthusiastic  and  effective  in  any  one 

of  his  several  little  worlds  in  which  he  delighted  to  make 

262 


THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN  263 

excursions,  were  likely  to  believe  that  it  was  his  whole 
world.  And,  for  the  time  being,  it  was. 

One  of  his  earliest  excursions  was  into  the  world  of 
sports,  where  he  labored  as  diligently  to  develop  skill  and 
win  success  as  in  any  field  he  ever  entered.  Horses,  dogs 
and  even  gamecocks  engaged  his  attention  at  one  time. 
Athletics  became  his  chief  interest  later,  and  he  gained 
rank  among  amateur  swimmers  and  boxers,  and  was  a 
good  swordsman.  He  was  a  leading  member  of  the 
old  Cribb  Club  of  Boston  in  its  heyday.  This  was  an 
athletic  organization  with  a  clubhouse  on  Avery  Street, 
and  with  some  of  the  foremost  names  of  Boston  on  its 
membership  roll. 

In  his  life  of  the  poet,  O'Reilly,  James  Jeffrey  Roche 
noted  that  the  club  had  been  named  after  Tom  Cribb, 
a  noted  English  boxer,  and  described  it  in  these  terms :  — 

The  Cribb  Club,  founded  for  the  encouragement  of 
the  " manly  art/'  was  one  of  the  most  exclusive  in  the 
exclusive  city  of  Boston,  numbering  among  its  member- 
ship, men  distinguished  in  art,  literature  and  statesman- 
ship. They  were  strong,  brave,  honorable  men  who 
loved  the  natural  virtue  of  courage  as  much  as  they 
hated  the  cowardly  custom  which  has  made  the  knife 
and  pistol  a  reproach  to  the  American  name. 

O'Reilly  and  Moseley  were  among  the  best  boxers  in 
the  club.  An  old-time  habitu6,  in  calling  up  the  memory 
of  that  "gentleman's  club  where  gentlemen  could  meet 
and,  in  all  the  panoply  of  the  prize  ring,  pummel  one 
another  to  their  heart's  content  in  accordance  with  the 
Marquis  of  Queensbury  rules,"  has  set  down  these  few 
recollections  for  this  book :  — 


264  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

I  well  remember  holding  the  watch  for  an  event  between 
O'Reilly  and  Moseley,  and  there  were  no  love  pats  about 
it  either.  Both  men  were  stripped  to  the  buff.  The 
blows  came  hard  and  fast,  and  were  given  with  all  the 
strength  the  combatants  could  muster.  So  far  as  appear- 
ances went  for  anything,  it  was  a  genuine  contest  of  skill 
and  muscle.  Of  course  it  was  a  draw.  The  few  present 
behind  locked  doors  could  not  decide  any  other  way. 
For  really,  it  was  one  of  the  prettiest  boxing  matches  you 
would  see  anywhere,  even  in  professional  circles. 

I  recall  a  legend  of  Moseley  stepping  into  a  contest 
with  a  professional  out  at  a  big  picnic.  The  gentleman 
amateur,  as  might  have  been  expected,  got  the  worst  end 
of  it,  but  he  simply  did  not  know  when  he  was  whipped, 
and  the  event  had  to  be  called  a  draw.  Out  of  the  ring 
as  well  as  in,  Moseley  was  one  of  the  best  and  squarest 
of  men,  and  he  was  never  known  to  turn  his  back  on  any 
appeal  which  came  to  him,  no  matter  how  humble  the 
source,  nor  how  insignificant  the  object. 

Mr.  Moseley  himself  in  his  sketch,  "John  Boyle 
O'Reilly,  the  Man,"  made  this  record  of  his  boxing 
experiences  with  his  friend :  — 

One  afternoon  on  going  up  to  the  Pilot  office,  he  said: 
"Dear  old  man,  I  have  been  working  so  hard  !  Let  us 
go  down  to  the  club  and  I  will  throw  some  of  this  blood 
out  of  my  brain  into  my  arms  and  fists."  We  went 
down,  and,  stripping  for  it,  jumped  into  the  ring.  It 
commenced  gently  enough,  but  in  a  short  time  we  were 
both  thoroughly  aroused.  It  was  a  contest  of  strong 
men  who  were  there  to  give  and  take.  At  last  it  became 
apparent  that  one  or  the  other  of  us  must  go  down.  It 
meant  a  "knock  out." 

The  veteran,  Tim  McCarthy,  who  was  professor  of 
sparring  at  the  club  and  who  had  charge  there,  seeing 
the  turn  of  affairs,  sang  out  "time,"  but  neither  of  us 
heeded  it,  and  he  jumped  over  the  ropes  and  with  a 
touch  separated  us.  It  was  the  last  time  we  ever  put  on 
the  gloves  for  a  contest,  although  O'Reilly  had  a  playful 


THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN  265 

way  of  slipping  up  and  giving  me  a  clip  almost  forcible 
enough  to  knock  an  ox  down.  It  was  play,  but  it  was 
earnest  play,  as  everything  was  in  his  life. 

Nothing  so  inculcates  self-control  as  sparring.  The 
humiliation  of  a  blow  is  hard  to  eradicate,  but  a  boxer 
quickly  realizes  that  it  is  essential  not  to  lose  his  temper, 
no  matter  how  hard  hit.  A  man  who  can  receive  a  blow 
in  the  face  and  preserve  his  equilibrium,  is  not  apt  to 
get  angry,  although  he  may  simulate  it,  when  called  out 
of  his  name ;  neither,  if  he  is  a  sparrer,  conscious  of  his 
power  and  skill,  does  he  feel  called  upon  to  whip  the 
aggressor  to  prove  himself  not  a  coward.  He  would 
despise  himself  for  striking  one  whom  he  felt  was  his  in- 
ferior, while  the  knife  and  pistol  have  no  place  in  his 
armament. 

As  to  boxing  in  general,  Mr.  Moseley  wrote  in  his 
sketch :  — 

The  sparrer  must  have  his  telegraph  system  in  perfect 
order.  A  break  in  the  circuit  means  disaster.  With  his 
eye  fixed  upon  that  of  his  opponent,  he  notices  that  he  is 
sending  a  message  to  his  brain.  His  own  response  must 
be  as  nearly  instantaneous  as  electricity.  A  telegram  to 
the  brain  announces  that  here  is  a  blow  coming  or  an  open- 
ing, and  as  the  eye  telegraphs  to  the  brain  the  impending 
blow  or  the  opportunity  to  deliver  one,  so  the  brain  sends 
notice  to  the  arm  to  ' '  get  at  it , "  —  "  ward  "  -  or  "  strike, ' ' 
as  the  case  may  be,  while  at  the  same  time  this  is  sup- 
plemented by  a  signal  to  the  legs  to  get  under  way, 
ahead  and  astern.  Many  of  us  are  inclined  to  wool- 
gathering, but  when  in  front  of  another  man  we  must 
concentrate  our  thoughts,  if  never  at  any  other  time,  or 
suffer  the  consequences. 

Recurring  to  Mr.  O'Reilly,  Mr.  Moseley  wrote :  — 

He  always  entered  into  every  sport  with  the  heartiest 
enthusiasm.  He  did  not  have  the  slightest  sympathy 
for  a  man  in  full  vigor  who  could  not  take  as  well  as 


266  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

give  a  blow.  In  his  sparring  he  was  like  a  whirlwind. 
We  often  sparred  together,  but  after  a  while,  with  tacit 
consent  we  seemed  to  drop  it ;  there  was  too  much  earnest- 
ness in  it.  I  never  sparred  with  him  when  I  did  not  feel 
that  I  could  expect  no  quarter,  and  that  one  or  the  other 
would  have  to  go  down. 

The  two  men  fenced  as  well  as  sparred,  and  Mr.  Moseley 
made  this  report  of  his  encounters  with  O'Reilly  in  the 
former  field  of  friendly  combat :  — 

Again,  he  was  a  skilled  swordsman.  He  told  me  that 
when  he  first  came  a  fugitive  in  this  country  he  thought 
he  would  maintain  himself  by  giving  lessons  in  broad- 
sword, single-stick,  and  foils;  and  it  used  to  give  him 
great  pleasure  to  put  a  foil  in  my  hand  and  say  to  me  - 
for  I  professed  to  know  nothing  of  it  —  "Ned,  on  guard  ! 
Now  run  me  through.  Thrust  me  anywhere  you  can. 
Kill  me  if  you  can."  And  then  with  a  smile  upon  his 
face  he  would  ward  off  my  lunges  until,  suiting  his  pur- 
pose, he  would  send  my  sword  flying  across  the  room. 

Canoeing,  that  primal  aquatic  sport  of  America,  was 
another  form  of  recreation  which  Moseley  enjoyed  some- 
times with  Sigourney  Butler  and  Dr.  Guiterras  and  often 
with  O'Reilly.  He  and  O'Reilly  made  many  happy  voy- 
ages together,  on  the  Charles,  in  Boston  Harbor,  and  on 
the  Merrimac,  and  once  they  paddled  through  the  Dismal 
Swamp  of  Virginia.  Another  quotation  from  Mr.  Mose- 
ley's  sketch  is  appropriate  here :  — 

Always  in  our  outings  O'Reilly  and  myself  kept  an 
accurate  account,  which  we  balanced  every  evening.  It 
was  simply  a  matter  of  method  and  pleasure  to  do  so. 
I  might  say:  "Boyle,  you  know  you  bought  a  quart  of 
milk  to-day ;  you  haven't  got  that  down ; "  or  it  might 
be,  "You  gave  a  quarter  to  that  lock  tender;"  or  he 
might  say,  "Ned,  you  bought  some  bread  and  cheese  at 


THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN  267 

the  grocery  at  such  a  place,  or  we  paid  so  much  toll,  or 
something  of  that  sort,"  and  then  after  marshaling  all 
the  expenses,  we  would  divide  them.  It  was  purely 
method  on  his  part.  No  man  was  more  liberal  in  his 
expenditures,  but  he  did  not  like  to  be  under  obligation 
even  to  a  friend. 

An  incident  of  one  of  their  trips  was  thus  recalled  by 
Mr.  Moseley :  — 

I  remember,  although  it  may  seem  personal  to  myself 
to  mention  it,  that  once  on  the  Merrimac  we  were  swim- 
ming from  a  point  of  rocks,  at  the  upper  edge  of  the 
Laurels,  and  the  conversation  turned  upon  the  subject 
of  diving  and  bringing  weights  from  the  bottom. 

Picking  up  an  ordinary-sized  rock,  he  said,  "Ned,  I 
wager  you  a  dollar  you  cannot  bring  that  from  the  bottom 
50  yards  out." 

With  a  spirit  half  of  bravado,  I  said:  "I  would  not 
fool  with  that  pebble.  Here  is  something  like,"  taking 
a  rock  from  the  stone  fence  close  at  hand. 

He  thought  I  could  never  do  it ;  but  putting  a  white 
towel  on  the  under  side,  that  I  might  distinguish  it  under 
water,  he  took  it  out  in  the  boat,  and  estimating  the 
distance,  dropped  it  overboard  some  fifty  yards  from  the 
shore  in  twelve  feet  of  water. 

I  swam  out,  and  after  some  effort  secured  it  and 
managed  to  bring  it  ashore.  He  was  so  pleased,  he  took 
it  to  the  nearest  scale  and  found  it  weighed  34  pounds. 
He  seemed  to  feel  as  proud  of  what  he  thought  was  quite 
an  achievement  as  if  he  had  done  it  himself,  or  as  if  it 
had  been  something  equal  to  the  composition  or  delivery 
of  his  St.  Patrick's  Day  poem.  He  related  the  incident 
in  the  Pilot,  challenging  any  one  to  surpass  it.  I  was 
constantly  having  men  tell  me  of  something  which 
O'Reilly  had  laid  at  my  door  that  pleased  him. 

When  Mr.  Moseley  went  to  Washington,  Mr.  O'Reilly 
viewed  his  going  as  a  calamity  to  their  companionship. 
"The  summer  opens  lonesome  for  me,"  he  mournfully 


268  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

wrote  in  June,  1887.  "I  can't  bear  to  look  at  the  canoe. 
...  I  shall  never  have  the  heart  to  paddle  down  to 
Governor's  Island  and  swim/' 

Yet  the  climax  of  their  journeyings  was  in  store  for 
them.  This  was  a  trip  to  the  Dismal  Swamp,  for  which 
they  did  much  fond  and  excited  planning.  O'Reilly 
wrote  of  their  venture  into  that  strange  region:  "In 
the  month  of  May,  1888,  two  sunburned  white  men,  in 
cedar  canoes,  turned  at  right  angles  from  the  broad  waters 
of  the  Dismal  Swamp  Canal,  and  entered  the  dark  and 
narrow  channel,  called  the  Feeder,  that  pierces  the  very 
heart  of  the  swamp." 

Another  canoe  trip  was  soon  among  the  plans,  this 
time  to  the  Eastern  Shore  of  Maryland  —  "A  tent  on 
the  beach,"  as  O'Reilly  outlined  the  project,  "shooting 
and  fishing,  and  lying  in  the  sand  all  day,  like  savages." 
Again  he  wrote:  "In  May,  please  God,  we  will  go  down 
to  that  Eastern  Shore  and  take  a  howl  in  the  primeval. 
I  am  tired  to  death."  He  was,  in  truth,  tired  to  death, 
and  he  and  his  comrade  were  to  voyage  together  no  more. 
After  O'Reilly's  untimely  death  in  1890,  the  sorrowing 
and  loyal  friend  contributed  some  interesting  and  intimate 
recollections  of  their  rare  companionship  to  the  biography 
of  the  poet  which  James  Jeffrey  Roche  was  preparing. 

A  graceful  appreciation  of  Mr.  Moseley's  own  memorial 
of  his  friend,  "John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  the  Man,"  was 
written  by  another  friend,  Samuel  Roads,  Jr.,  of  Marble- 
head,  Massachusetts,  author  of  "The  History  and  Tradi- 
tions" of  that  unique  old  town,  in  acknowledging  the 
receipt  of  the  brochure :  — 


THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN  269 

To  MY  FRIEND,  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY  : 

Whose  charming  description  of  "John  Boyle  O'Reilly 
the  Man/'  is  only  an  unconscious  tribute  to  noble  char- 
acteristics of  mind  and  heart  which  are  his  own,  as  much 
as  they  were  those  of  the  patriot  and  poet  of  whom  he 
writes;  and  whose  article  on  "Arbitration,"  proves  to 
all  the  world  what  his  friends  have  always  known,  that 
his  great  heart  always  goes  out  in  sympathy  to  the  toiler 
and  wage  earner. 

SAMUEL  ROADS,  JR. 
September  15,  1893. 

In  loyalty  to  O'Reilly's  memory,  Mr.  Moseley  cham- 
pioned the  retention  of  Captain  Hathaway,  as  the  United 
States  Shipping  Commissioner  of  New  Bedford,  Massachu- 
setts because  of  his  gallant  part  in  the  rescue  of  O'Reilly 
from  the  penal  colony  of  western  Australia.  He  was  happy 
to  serve  the  memory  of  his  friend  again,  by  securing  the 
presence  of  Vice-President  Stevenson  at  the  dedication  of 
the  O'Reilly  monument  in  the  Fenway  at  Boston. 

When  Moseley,  too,  had  completed  the  voyage  of 
life,  a  friend  of  the  two  friends,  Joseph  Smith  of  Lowell, 
Massachusetts,  at  a  meeting  of  the  John  Boyle  O'Reilly 
Club  of  Boston,  held  at  Loblolly  Cove  on  Cape  Ann  amid 
scenes  associated  with  their  memory,  read  this  tribute :  — 

A  MEMORY 

Here  by  the  waters  of  Loblolly  Cove 

We  greet  the  spirits  of  the  dead  we  love. 

Here  by  the  restless,  ever-sounding  sea, 

Comes  back  the  dear,  the  undying  mem'ry 

Of  older  days,  of  braver,  sweeter  days, 

When  faith  and  friendship  marked  our  lives  and  ways ; 

When  life  was  sweet  and  all  the  world  was  young, 

When  Moseley  wrought  and  Boyle  O'Reilly  sung. 


270  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

In  the  firm  valor  of  their  faith  and  youth 

They  faced  the  world  and  fought  for  right  and  truth ; 

And  here  they  heard  the  sea's  deep-throated  call, 

Free  for  the  nonce,  from  dull  convention's  thrall. 

To  them  that  voice  told  many  a  wondrous  tale 

That  sent  their  souls  to  sea  with  ev'ry  sail, 

Adventuring  back  where  ev'ry  spicy  breeze 

Kissed  the  green  Edens  of  Polynesian  seas. 

Their  work  is  done ;  their  souls  from  earth  are  free ; 

Their  ships  now  anchor  in  the  tideless  sea ; 

Each  nobly  wrought,  each  left  an  honored  name, 

And  each  inspired  a  love  more  sweet  than  fame. 

Now  watch  and  ward  a  gentle  spirit  keeps 

On  that  green  hill  where  Boyle  O'Reilly  sleeps, 

And  Moseley  rests  where  sweet  sea  breezes  bring, 

The  music  which  the  tides  eternal  sing. 

Here  by  the  waters  of  Loblolly  Cove 

We  hail  the  spirits  of  the  dead  we  love. 

A  woman  of  distinction  and  discrimination  pronounced 
Mr.  Moseley  "the  most  accomplished  man"  she  ever 
knew.  It  would  not  be  easy  to  measure  the  range  of 
his  accomplishments,  for  he  was  not  in  the  habit  of  mak- 
ing them  a  merit.  For  instance,  how  many  who  knew 
him  had  any  idea  that  he  could  paint?  Yet  he  had  a 
strong  love  for  the  fine  arts,  and  in  his  early  days  he  both 
drew  and  painted  well. 

The  deep-sea  chanteys  were  dear  to  him ;  and  he  pos- 
sessed a  rich  and  strong  baritone  voice  with  which,  when 
he  sang  such  a  song  as  "Toll  not  the  Village  Bell  for 
Me,"  he  moved  his  hearers  to  tears.  He  was  greatly 
interested  in  the  musical  work  of  his  daughter,  provid- 
ing her  every  facility  and  constantly  bringing  her  new 
music. 

He  never  dabbled  in  anything,  but,  whether  at  work 


THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN  271 

or  play,  he  strove  with  all  his  might  to  master  whatever 
he  undertook.  He  knew  the  trees,  the  flowers  and  the 
things  that  grow  in  field  and  garden.  He  had  a  practical 
and  scientific  knowledge  of  them.  When  he  built  his 
Washington  house  in  Sixteenth  Street,  he  had  only  a 
little  grass  plot,  hardly  as  large  as  a  billiard  table,  but  he 
experimented  with  various  grass  seed  until  he  had  a 
sward  like  velvet,  which  was  literally  hand  raised.  He 
would  hardly  have  survived  his  cares  and  anxieties  but 
for  the  pleasure  he  had  in  his  various  gardens.  When  it 
was  not  his  legal  books  among  which  he  fell  asleep,  it 
was  among  all  the  flower  catalogues  published  in  this 
country  and  many  from  abroad ;  he  had  an  inherited  and 
passionate  love  of  flowers.  Even  when  his  health  began 
to  fail,  the  medical  books  he  studied  and  which  made  him 
almost  as  good  a  physician  as  can  be  made  by  books 
alone,  did  not  supplant  the  gardening  books. 

In  his  enthusiasm  for  working  in  the  soil,  he  bought  a 
small  farm  at  Kenil worth,  Maryland,  in  1903,  and 
undertook  to  raise  flowers  and  vegetables  for  the  Wash- 
ington market.  Busy  as  his  days  were,  he  was  obliged 
to  leave  the  management  of  the  place  to  others,  himself 
able  only  to  go  out  at  night  and  do  what  he  could  while 
the  light  lasted.  His  correspondence  with  his  head  farmer 
makes  a  surprising  disclosure  of  his  close  knowledge  of 
both  gardening  and  marketing,  and  at  the  same  time 
gives  some  amusing  glimpses  of  his  ups  and  downs  in 
agriculture.  A  few  extracts  from  a  large  packet  of  his 
letters,  written  to  the  farmer  on  days  when  he  could  not 
go  out  to  the  farm,  must  suffice :  —  '  -..' 


272  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

Professor  Wood  said  that  he  did  not  believe  that  any 
violets  could  be  grown  that  were  better  than  those  violets 
which  you  grew  in  the  house.  They  are  so  strong  and 
vigorous.  .  .  . 

Now  don't  fail  to  see  that  the  ice  is  kept  on  the  vio- 
lets. .  .  . 

If  you  would  do  as  well  by  me  as  I  by  you,  I  think  you 
would  buy  some  corn  and  cut  me  some  wood.  I  was 
sure  this  morning  when  I  looked  at  your  letter  that  you 
would  say,  "I  am  going  to  get  some  corn  and  fatten  the 
pigs."  .  .  . 

I  am  very  glad  that  you  are  improving  the  quality  of 

the  violets  you  send .  It  won't  pay  to  monkey  with 

him.  There  are  plenty  of  violets  from  Virginia,  and  if 
you  don't  have  violets  sent  him  better  bunched,  larger 
bunches,  etc.,  than  he  gets  down  there,  you  will  have  to 
take  the  price  which  he  pays  the  Virginia  people.  Our 
violets,  with  your  skill  in  growing  them  and  bunching 
them,  ought  to  be  the  best  that  come  into  the  market 
and  bring  the  highest  prices,  and  undoubtedly  they  will 
be  if  you  will  follow  it  up.  .  .  . 

Do  not  plant  any  more  onions,  please,  but  clean  those 
that  you  have,  where  they  need  it  —  the  little  ones.  I 
do  not  think  I  will  be  out  to-day,  but  will  see  you  to- 
morrow. Be  sure  to  sterilize  that  stuff,  and  do  it  well.  .  .  . 
Give  it  a  good  cooking,  and  then  put  it  where  nothing 
can  get  at  it  —  on  boards  or  something.  Lay  it  out 
thin  and  dry  it  out  so  as  to  make  it  light  and  feathery. 
Do  not  fail  to  do  this,  please.  Go  to  work  at  it  at  once, 
if  you  will,  and  cook  the  devil  out  of  it.  ... 

I  would  not  sell  a  violet  to  anybody,  if  they  gave  ten 
dollars  apiece  for  them,  except  the  people  you  are  supply- 
ing. If wants  to  buy  our  violets,  why  let  him  do  it 

regularly,  but  as  a  matter  of  accommodation  simply,  we 
have  not  got  them  to  sell.  If  violets  continue  to  grow 
as  I  think  they  are  going  to  do,  you  will  be  picking  ten 
thousand  a  day  before  long,  and  you  had  better  keep 
your  customers  supplied.  .  .  . 

I  trust  you  won't  bother  me  any  more  than  you  can 
help  for  the  present.  I  have  got  all  I  can  do  here  in  the 
office,  and  I  can't  give  any  more  thought  to  the  farm.  If 


THE   MANY-SIDED  MAN  273 

you  are  having  both  tanks  filled,  you  will  have  them  both 
clouded  and  will  have  them  so  for  the  winter  probably. 
You  ought  to  put  clear  water  in  one  and  then  fill  up  the 
other  from  it.  I  can't  tell  you  anything  about  going 
away  just  now  as  I  have  got  more  than  I  can  do.  Now 
please  don't  bother  me  any  more.  ...  If  you  want 
anything,  you  will  have  to  attend  to  it  yourself.  .  .  . 

I  gave  one  bunch  of  those  onions  to .     He  thought 

they  looked  beautiful  and  is  going  to  try  them,  and  I  am 
going  to  have  some  other  people  try  the  other  bunch. 

I  am  having figure  out  about  the  violets.     You  will 

find  that  they  have  done  just  as  well  as  ever.  They  are 
not  blooming  now,  but  in  former  years  they  did  not 
bloom  later.  Just  about  this  time  they  were  blooming, 
and  along  about  the  last  of  November  or  first  of  Decem- 
ber you  hardly  had  any.  .  .  . 

*•  It  is  no  use  for  you  to  be  bellowing.  You  ought  to 
thank  God  that  things  are  as  good  as  they  are.  There 
is  only  one  thing  more,  and  that  is  that  you  want  to  get 
plenty  of  straw  and  litter  to  put  on  those  onions  or  you 
will  lose  them.  .  .  . 

I  could  not  reach  you  by  telephone  this  morning,  but 
hardly  supposed  that  such  a  catastrophe  had  taken  place. 
Of  course,  I  am  sorry  enough  about  it,  but  the  only  thing 
to  do  is  not  to  get  discouraged.  I  had  $900  insurance 
on  the  thing,  but  it  was  cancelled  about  a  fortnight  ago 
and  therefore  it  is  a  total  loss.  I  know  of  nothing  else 
to  do  but  to  go  ahead  and  build  another  house.  There 
is  no  use  to  throw  up  the  sponge  or  get  discouraged. 
Save  everything  you  possibly  can.  Get  the  water  out 
of  your  boilers  so  they  won't  crack,  and  empty  your 
water  pipes.  The  first  thing  you  want  to  do  is  to  make 
some  sort  of  arrangement  so  you  can  get  water.  See 
what  can  be  done  about  getting  a  new  tank  or  getting 
the  old  tank  in  condition  so  that  it  will  hold  water. 
Perhaps  you  will  have  the  steam  engine  to  do  your 
pumping. 

Anyway,  go  ahead  and  do  the  best  you  can;  don't 
get  discouraged,  I  am  back  of  you.  A  little  fire  is  not 
going  to  drive  us  to  the  wall.  I  am  sorry  enough  the 
house  and  the  rest  of  the  stuff  are  gone,  but  we  will  have 


274  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

to  make  the  most  of  it.     You  might  as  well  start  to  clean 
up,  and  we  will  get  ready  to  go  to  work  to  build. 

Surely  there  was  no  lack  of  the  true  sporting  spirit 
under  that  blow,  nor  was  there  when,  on  casting  up 
accounts,  he  found  that  he  had  paid  out  nearly  a  thousand 
dollars  hi  one  year  for  horse  feed.  The  end  of  this 
story  of  long-distance  farming  does  not  appear  among 
Mr.  Moseley's  papers. 

But  nothing  ever  dampened  his  ardor  on  the  general 
subject.  Early  every  morning  before  he  went  to  his 
office,  Nelson,  his  faithful  servant  of  more  than  twenty 
years,  drove  him  to  the  Agricultural  Department,  and 
every  spring  evening  he  came  home  with  his  arms  full 
of  the  first  flowers.  This  letter  from  the  White  House 
recalls  a  little  incident  that  may  be  worth  noting  here :  — 

The  White  House,  Washington. 

March  16,  1907. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  MOSELEY: 

I  handed  the  pot  of  shamrock,  which  you  were  so  kind 
as  to  send  to  the  President,  to  him  just  as  he  was  leaving 
the  office,  and  he  asked  me  to  thank  you  most  cordially 
for  your  courtesy  and  to  say  that  he  would  place  it  at 
once  in  Archie's  room. 

With  regard,  believe  me, 
Sincerely  yours, 

WM.  LOEB,  JR., 

Secretary  to  the  President. 

Mr.  Moseley  was  always  an  earnest  student  of  plants 
and  made  himself  in  his  later  years  an  expert  in  Chinese 
plants  and  vegetables.  He  imported  seeds  and  flowers 
from  distant  lands.  No  man  could  have  more  beautiful 


THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN  275 

monuments  than  the  beds  of  flowers  still  blooming  in  the 
parks  of  Washington,  which  have  been  developed  from 
seed  imported  by  him  and  given  to  the  Department  of 
Agriculture.  A  lawyer  friend,  wondering  at  the  grasp 
of  the  fundamental  principles  of  the  law  which  he  dis- 
played while  walking  with  him  in  a  Government  garden 
one  day,  was  even  more  astonished  on  meeting  the  chief 
specialist  of  the  government  in  the  matter  of  foreign 
plants  to  hear  Mr.  Moseley  discuss  that  subject  on  fairly 
equal  terms  with  the  scientist. 

Mr.  Moseley  is  spoken  of  by  one  who  was  much  under 
his  roof  as  being  exceedingly  agreeable  to  live  with,  by 
reason  of  his  good  humor,  his  geniality,  his  cheerful  pleas- 
antry, his  consideration.  His  hospitality  was  unbounded. 
Often  when  a  stranger  came  to  Washington,  homeless, 
homesick  and  alone,  with  no  claim  other  than  that  of  ac- 
quaintance, he  was  made  a  daily  guest  at  the  generous 
table  until  after  weeks  or  months  he  had  become  familiar 
with  the  life  and  people  of  the  place.  It  was  a  pleasant 
lodge  in  the  wilderness,  the  charming  interior  by  night 
overflowed  with  light,  and  the  house  was  always  full  of 
flowers. 

To  one  of  his  worlds,  at  least,  Mr.  Moseley  ever  re- 
mained unchangingly  loyal,  and  that  was  the  little  world 
of  Newburyport,  into  which  he  was  born.  Although  the 
years  of  his  manhood  were  passed  elsewhere,  Boston  and 
Washington  were  to  him  hardly  more  than  the  places  of 
his  exile.  He  held  himself  always  a  citizen  and  lover  of 
the  old  town  where  the  Merrimac  flows  into  the  sea. 
There  his  two  brothers  and  a  sister  have  their  homes, 


276  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

and  at  the  last,  as  at  the  first,  it  was  his  favorite  play- 
ground. He  never  lost  his  youthful  delight  in  its  beauti- 
ful river  and  the  charming  country  in  which  the  town  is 
set. 

Up  the  river  and  just  beyond  the  edge  of  the  town,  the 
waters  are  parted  by  Deer  Island,  a  lovely  tree-grown  cliff 
of  some  seven  acres,  the  home  chosen  by  the  late  Richard 
S.  Spofford  and  cherished  by  his  widow,  the  poet  and 
novelist,  Mrs.  Harriet  Prescott  Spofford,  sister  of  Mrs. 
Moseley.  This  was  the  summer  home  of  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Moseley  and  their  daughter,  as  their  Washington  house 
became  the  winter  home  of  Mrs.  Spofford. 

Mr.  Moseley's  last  pastime  was  motor  boating  on  the 
Merrimac  and  on  Ipswich  Bay  and  sometimes  around 
Cape  Ann.  He  was  contented  with  the  little  old  engine 
with  which  he  started,  until  one  day  his  brother  Fred 
passed  him  on  the  river.  After  that,  he  did  not  rest  until 
he  had  an  engine  capable  of  evening  up  the  score.  He 
studied  the  subject  as  if  he  were  intending  to  make 
a  business  of  constructing  motor  boats.  He  went  to 
Rochester  for  the  purpose  of  personally  inspecting  some 
engines.  With  no  little  difficulty,  he  imported  from 
Austria  a  rare  trumpet,  on  which  he  could  wake  the 
echoes  of  the  forest-bordered  river  with  a  fanfare  worthy 
of  a  royal  progress. 

When  on  his  vacations  he  arrived  at  the  Island,  it 
seemed  to  all  that  summer  had  begun,  his  friends  wel- 
comed him,  the  family  delighted  in  him,  the  servants 
adored  him.  He  visited  his  old  haunts,  found  his  old 
wild  flowers,  interviewed  the  old  fishermen,  spent  hours 


THE  MANY-SIDED  MAN  277 

in  his  brothers'  gardens  at  Indian  Hill  and  Maudesleigh 
and  Chailey,  and  rowed  with  his  brother-in-law.  One 
of  his  last  pleasures  was  when  he  tapped  at  the  door  of 
his  sister-in-law,  Mrs.  Spofford,  at  half-past  four  in  the 
morning,  and  together  they  took  the  swift  Fawn  under 
Captain  Charlie  Lundborg,  and  fled  down  the  Merrimac 
in  the  sunrise,  and  through  the  silver  windings  of  Plum 
Island  River,  rushing  back  through  water  where  the 
changing  wind  met  the  tide,  drenched  and  glad  of  break- 
fast. 

In  his  desire  for  a  boat  entirely  to  his  liking,  he  set 
up  a  shop  on  the  river  bank,  and  employed  a  skillful 
carpenter.  In  his  last  days  at  Deer  Island,  when  he  no 
longer  dared  race  up  to  Haverhill  or  out  past  Plum 
Island,  he  could  still  go  to  the  little  shop  and,  as  he  sat 
hour  after  hour  beside  the  carpenter's  bench,  discuss  and 
direct  the  building  of  the  boat.  Alas,  he  was  to  sail  the 
Merrimac  no  more ! 


APPRECIATIONS 

THE  OUTLOOK,  287  FOURTH  AVE.,  NEW  YORK, 

February  15,  1912. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  MORGAN: 

I  most  gladly  write  to  say  how  I  appreciated  Mr. 
Moseley's  services  during  the  many  years  he  was  under 
me. 

He  was  one  of  the  men  who  did  really  substantial  serv- 
ice for  the  cause  of  industrial  betterment  of  our  people. 
He  fought  on  every  occasion  for  better  conditions  of  labor 
for  the  great  army  of  railway  employees,  and  on  behalf 
of  all  laws  for  appliances  that  would  make  the  cars  safer  ; 
and  he  took  a  leading  part  in  the  effort  that  resulted 
in  putting  upon  the  Federal  statute  books  the  many 
laws  that  now  look  to  the  safety  and  welfare  of  railway 
employees. 

I  took  a  real  pride  hi  his  association  with  me,  and 
valued  him,  and  lamented  his  death. 
Faithfully  yours, 

THEODORE  ROOSEVELT. 


278 


APPRECIATIONS  279 


THE  WHITE  HOUSE,  WASHINGTON, 

December  7,  1911. 
MY  DEAR  MR.  MORGAN  : 

I  am  in  receipt  of  your  request  for  a  contribution  to  the 
memorial  for  Mr.  Moseley,  and  am  glad  to  send  you  the 
following :  — 

The  late  Edward  A.  Moseley  did  much  to  further  the 
introduction  of  safety  appliances  upon  the  railroads, 
the  objects  of  which  were  to  preserve  human  life.  He 
worked  especially  for  the  safety  of  railroad  employees. 
This  alone  would  have  brought  him  honor  and  respect, 
but  he  found  time  also  to  give  attention  to  other  public 
matters  of  importance. 

His  work  as  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission  was  worthy  of  high  commendation. 

Sincerely  yours, 

WM.  H.  TAFT. 


280  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

HONORABLE  MARTIN  A.  KNAPP 

PRESIDING  JUDGE   OF   THE    COURT    OF    COMMERCE,    FORMERLY    CHAIR- 
MAN  OF  THE  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   COMMISSION 

To  be  actuated  by  an  ardent  and  unselfish  purpose, 
which  discouragement  never  weakens  and  difficulty 
cannot  defeat,  and  to  accomplish  that  purpose  in  large 
measure  with  the  results  of  great  and  lasting  benefit  to 
humanity,  is  a  record  of  usefulness  which  only  a  few  men 
leave  behind  them.  One  of  these  was  Edward  A.  Moseley. 

Born  under  conditions  of  family  station  which  pointed 
to  the  typical  career  of  the  well-bred  New  Englander,  he 
turned  aside  from  the  allurements  of  wealth,  the  pleas- 
ures of  social  prestige,  and  the  honors  of  political  dis- 
tinction, to  devote  the  energies  of  a  lifetime  to  the  cause 
of  the  overworked  and  unprotected.  Especially  was  he 
moved  with  sympathy  for  those  engaged  in  hazardous 
callings,  and  for  the  betterment  of  their  lot  he  labored  in 
season  and  out  of  season.  This  was  the  keynote  of  his 
character  and  the  ruling  spirit  of  his  activities. 

The  pursuits  of  early  manhood  gave  him  a  wide  knowl- 
edge of  men  and  affairs,  and  this  informing  experience, 
added  to  abilities  of  a  high  order,  qualified  him  for  the 
place  in  which  his  life  work  was  mainly  performed  and 
with  which  his  name  will  always  be  associated. 

When  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  was 
created  in  1887,  he  was  made  its  Secretary  and  served 
continuously  in  that  capacity  until  his  lamented  death 
terminated  the  relation.  To  the  varied  and  exacting 
duties  of  this  office  he  brought  an  eager  and  resolute  mind, 


APPRECIATIONS  281 

unbounded  energy  and  an  industry  that  never  wearied. 
From  first  to  last  his  heart  was  in  the  work  of  the  Com- 
mission, his  one  ambition  to  have  that  work  succeed. 
For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  he  gave  the  best  that 
was  in  him  to  aid  the  development  of  an  adequate  and 
efficient  scheme  of  railway  regulation,  and  his  zealous 
labors  contributed  in  no  small  degree  to  the  notable 
results  that  have  been  attained.  His  loyalty  was  beyond 
all  question,  and  every  Commissioner  under  whom  he 
served  regarded  him  as  a  personal  friend. 

Whilst  he  participated  at  all  times  and  most  helpfully 
in  the  general  work  of  the  Commission,  he  was  conspicu- 
ously active  in  promoting  measures  for  the  protection  of 
railway  employees  and  the  traveling  public.  To  his 
persistent  and  determined  efforts  was  largely  due  the 
enactment  of  the  various  safety  appliance  laws,  and  he 
exerted  himself  unceasingly  for  their  efficient  adminis- 
tration. His  vigorous  personality  pervaded  this  field  of 
regulation,  and  the  beneficial  results  accomplished,  now 
everywhere  recognized,  will  be  his  enduring  monument. 

A  remarkable  man  he  was,  of  versatile  powers  and 
marked  individuality,  enthusiastic,  resourceful,  uncom- 
monly likable,  a  man  whose  habitual  and  practical  interest 
in  those  less  fortunate  than  himself  was  constantly  mani- 
fested, and  above  all  a  man  who  performed  a  work  of 
unusual  and  permanent  value,  for  which  he  will  be  long 
and  gratefully  remembered. 

MARTIN  A.  KNAPP. 


282  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY7 

HONORABLE  FRANKLIN  K.  LANE 

SECRETARY    OF   THE    INTERIOR,    FORMERLY   A   MEMBER    OF   THE   INTER- 
STATE COMMERCE  COMMISSION 

The  distinctive  characteristic  of  Mr.  Moseley,  which 
drew  men  toward  him,  was  the  breadth  of  his  sympathies. 
He  thought  in  human  terms.  The  mere  matter  of  dollars 
involved  in  a  controversy  before  us  did  not  appeal  to  him, 
but  once  a  question  was  raised  involving  injustice  he  was 
keenly  alive.  The  man  of  small  affairs  appealed  to  him 
as  of  quite  as  much  importance  in  the  general  scheme  as 
the  man  with  the  largest  interests ;  and  where  he  found 
those  who  were  without  adequate  representation  he  made 
himself  their  representative,  if  their  cause  was  just. 

He  left  our  hearing  room  on  the  day  of  the  final  sub- 
mission of  the  proposed  rules  governing  the  application 
of  safety  appliances.  At  that  time  he  had  been  sick 
already  for  months,  but  had  fought  off  his  illness  to  give 
consideration  to  these  matters  which  were  the  fruit  of 
twenty  years  of  persistent  struggle  on  his  part.  As  he 
left  the  room,  I  turned  to  one  of  my  colleagues  and  said, 
"This  is  the  last  time  we  will  see  Mr.  Moseley  in  this 
room,  and  the  aim  of  his  life  has  been  achieved."  I 
believe  he  felt  that  way  himself. 

The  city  of  Washington  is  at  all  times  filled  with  men 
who  jealously  guard  the  rights  of  property.  It  has  con- 
tained few  comparatively  whose  first  thought  is  the  wel- 
fare of  their  kind.  In  this  class  Edward  A.  Moseley  was 
preeminent. 

FRANKLIN  K.  LANE. 


APPRECIATIONS  283 

HONORABLE  JUDSON  C.  CLEMENTS 

MEMBER  OF  THE  INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION 

The  long  service  of  Mr.  Moseley  as  Secretary  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  from  the  tune  of  its 
organization  until  his  death,  was  characterized  by  intense 
zeal,  prompted  by  a  loyal  pride  in  the  work  and  standing 
of  the  Commission  and  a  sense  of  personal  duty  and 
responsibility. 

At  an  early  period  during  his  term  of  office  he  became 
deeply  interested  in  the  subject  of  greater  safety  of  rail- 
way employees  and  their  just  treatment  in  the  matter 
of  compensation  for  injuries  sustained  in  the  service. 
Naturally,  from  long  consideration  of  these  matters  and 
an  earnest  effort  to  promote  legislation  for  better  condi- 
tions, he  became  interested  in  the  amicable  adjustment 
of  disputes  between  carriers  and  their  employees. 

In  addition  to  his  energy  and  zeal  for  the  cause  which 
he  espoused,  he  was  gifted  with  a  discriminating  know- 
ledge of  human  nature,  and  was  wonderfully  resourceful 
both  in  wisely  planning  and  wisely  executing  his  plans 
to  meet  and  deal  with  practical  conditions  and  difficul- 
ties in  the  best  manner  to  promote  the  ultimate  success 
of  his  cherished  projects.  He  was  always  persistent,  of 
a  cheerful  spirit,  courteous  and  generous  without  osten- 
tation. He  was  naturally  sympathetic  and  ready  with  a 
helping  hand  to  those  in  trouble  or  need. 

The  greatest  monument  to  his  memory  as  a  public 
servant  is  the  record  of  the  conspicuous  and  effective  part 
taken  by  him  in  the  promotion  of  legislation  for  the 


284  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

protection  of  life  and  limb  and  the  amelioration  of  the 
condition  of  those  engaged  in  arduous  and  hazardous 
labor,  and  for  the  better  protection  of  their  rights  in  the 
adjustment  of  liabilities  for  injuries.  His  thought  and 
untiring  labor  devoted  to  these  beneficent  and  just 
purposes  have  erected  a  more  cherished  and  enduring 
monument  to  his  unselfish  devotion  to  human  right  than 
could  any  shaft  of  stone. 

JUDSON  C.  CLEMENTS. 


HONORABLE  CHARLES  A.  PROUTY 

MEMBER   OF  THE  INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION 

Mr.  Moseley,  to  an  even  greater  degree  than  most 
men  who  accomplish  things,  devoted  his  entire  energy  to 
the  one  matter  then  in  hand,  and  to  this  concentration 
of  forces  he  added  a  persistency  seldom  equaled.  Not 
discouraged  by  defeat  or  rebuff,  he  returned  repeatedly 
to  the  attack,  always  from  a  different  point  of  onslaught 
and  by  some  new  and  unexpected  means.  Few  men  in 
Washington,  not  in  positions  of  great  authority,  could 
bring  to  bear  upon  the  accomplishment  of  their  purpose 
the  varied  forces  that  he  could. 

I  first  knew  him  when  I  became  a  member  of  the 
Commission,  in  December,  1896.  For  some  years  follow- 
ing he  gave  much  attention  to  the  amendment  of  the  Act 
to  regulate  commerce,  which  had  been  emasculated  of  its 
supposed  virility  by  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court. 
It  was  largely  due  to  him  that  the  trains  of  thought  and 
courses  of  action  were  put  in  operation  which  finally 


APPRECIATIONS  285 

resulted  in  the  Hepburn  amendment  of  1906 ;  but  before 
that  time  came  he  had  transferred  his  activities  to  the 
enforcement  of  the  Safety  Appliance  Act  and  the  procur- 
ing of  additional  legislation  looking  to  the  protection  of 
railway  employees,  to  which  the  last  years  of  his  life  were 
entirely  devoted.  Others  will  tell  of  the  results  of  those 
labors;  I  only  wish  to  bear  witness  to  the  disinterested 
character  of  his  motives. 

While  Mr.  Moseley  came  from  characteristic  stock  of 
Puritanic  New  England,  he  had  little  taste  for  the  cul- 
tured pursuits  which  might  naturally  have  appealed  to 
him.  His  thought  was  with  the  lower  stratum  of  society. 
The  under  dog  appealed  to  him.  It  was  not  to  win  out 
against  the  railroad,  not  to  see  his  name  in  the  newspaper, 
not  to  gain  a  following  with  which  to  demand  recognition, 
but  because  he  honestly  felt  for  the  hardship  and  suffering 
of  the  brakeman,  that  he  gave  his  time  and  his  substance. 

Largely  by  reason  of  this  very  disinterestedness  he 
won  the  affectionate  regard  of  the  men  in  whose  service 
he  wrought  and  whose  appreciation  he  prized,  and,  inci- 
dentally, fame  and  power  to  an  unusual  degree. 

C.  A.  PROUTY. 

HONORABLE  EDWARD  E.  CLARK 

MEMBER   OF   THE   INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   COMMISSION 

I  had  the  privilege  and  the  pleasure  of  a  close  and 
intimate  acquaintance  and  business  association  with  the 
late  Honorable  Edward  A.  Moseley,  extending  over  a 
number  of  years,  and  I  am  glad  to  express  my  esteem 
for  the  man  and  my  appreciation  of  his  work. 


286  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

I  first  became  acquainted  with  him  while  I  occupied 
the  position  of  grand  chief  conductor  of  the  Order  of 
Railway  Conductors,  one  of  the  organizations  of  the  rail- 
way employees  that  initiated  and  worked  for  the  adop- 
tion of  Federal  laws  requiring  the  use  on  railroads  of 
power  brakes  and  automatic  couplers  in  the  interest  of 
safety  to  employees  and  the  traveling  public.  No  man 
took  a  keener  interest  in  this  humanitarian  move,  and  no 
man  worked  more  zealously  or  efficiently  for  that  legis- 
lation than  did  Mr.  Moseley,  who  was  then  Secretary  of 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  He  contributed 
in  a  great  measure  to  the  success  achieved  in  that  effort, 
and  in  that,  as  in  everything  else,  he  manifested  the 
deepest  interest  in  the  welfare  of  those  whose  conditions 
appealed  to  his  sympathetic  nature  and  to  whom  he 
owed  no  particular  debt  or  duty. 

In  later  years,  as  a  member  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  I  was  closely  associated  with  him  along 
other  lines  of  public  work,  and  through  all  of  my  ac- 
quaintance with  him  those  characteristics  which  were 
most  notable  in  his  life  and  his  work,  and  which  to  my 
mind  most  strongly  impressed  those  who  knew  him  inti- 
mately and  well,  were  genuine  sympathy  for  those  who 
needed  sympathy  and  help  and  who  could  not  help  them- 
selves, untiring  and  unswerving  devotion  to  a  task  once 
undertaken,  and  indefatigable  will  and  untiring  energy 
in  everything  to  which  he  put  his  mind  or  hand. 

The  humanitarian  work  to  which  he  gave  much  of  his 
time  and  energy  in  the  direction  of  legislation  affecting 
safety  appliances  on  railroads,  hours  of  service  of  railway 


APPRECIATIONS  287 

employees,  and  prevention  of  accidents  on  railroads,  has 
not  yet  been  completed,  but  he  had  the  satisfaction  be- 
fore he  was  called  away  of  seeing  the  foundation  well 
laid  and  the  major  portion  of  the  superstructure  reared, 
and  of  knowing  that  he  had  been  closely  identified  in 
helpful  and  useful  ways  in  building  both. 

The  esteem  and  affection  for  him  that  are  entertained 
by  the  thousands  whom  he  has  helped,  constitute  a  me- 
morial which  I  know  would  be  wished  for  and  prized  by 
him  more  than  any  or  many  other  monuments. 

The  world  is  better  for  his  having  lived. 

E.  E.  CLARK. 

HON.  JAMES  S.  HARLAN 

MEMBER   OF  THE  INTERSTATE   COMMERCE   COMMISSION 

The  late  Edward  A.  Moseley  took  a  broad  view  of  his 
duties  as  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission. Not  content  with  being  merely  its  executive 
officer,  he  made  a  close  study  of  the  law  with  a  view  to 
ascertaining  its  defects  and  omissions,  and  had  much  to 
do  with  the  amendatory  legislation  by  which  the  act 
was  brought  to  its  present  state  of  effectiveness. 

But  his  best  work  in  the  public  interest  was  a  by- 
product, if  I  may  use  such  a  phrase  in  this  connection, 
of  his  official  relation  with  the  Commission.  In  that 
capacity  he  came  into  frequent  and  close  contact  with 
railroad  men,  and  there  was  thus  early  brought  to  his 
attention  the  need  of  legislation  for  the  protection  of 
railway  passengers  and  employees. 


288  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

The  Safety  Appliance  Acts,  the  Hours  of  Service  Law, 
the  Employers'  Liability  Act,  and  other  similar  statutes 
were  to  some  extent  the  result  of  his  long-continued 
efforts  to  secure  the  enactment  of  such  legislation.  He 
had  much  to  do  with  the  enforcement  of  these  laws,  and 
upheld  with  vigor  the  principles  which  they  establish. 
The  duties  cast  upon  him  by  this  legislation  were  at  times 
onerous,  but  he  undertook  them  cheerfully  and  performed 
the  work  with  marked  efficiency.  It  was  with  him  a 
labor  of  love ;  his  friends,  in  fact,  well  know  how  large  a 
part  of  the  remaining  years  of  his  life  was  devoted  to  the 
service  of  others. 

His  high  sense  of  duty  and  the  strict  performance  of 
his  official  work  won  for  him  the  confidence  of  the  Com- 
mission and  of  those  with  whom  he  came  into  official 
contact.  His  kindly  nature  and  personal  qualities  were 
such  as  to  endear  him  to  all. 

JAMES  S.  HARLAN. 

HONORABLE  JAMES  R.  MANN 

MINORITY  LEADER  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES,  FORMERLY 
CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  HOUSE  COMMITTEE  ON  INTERSTATE  AND  FOREIGN 
COMMERCE 

I  knew  Edward  A.  Moseley  very  intimately  in  a  legis- 
lative way.  For  years  I  was  one  of  the  active  members 
on  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Representatives  which 
deals  with  railway  legislation  and  during  a  part  of  the 
time  was  chairman  of  the  committee.  All  proposed 
legislation  relating  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission came  before  our  committee,  as  well  as  all  proposed 


APPRECIATIONS  289 

legislation  concerning  rules  or  appliances  to  prevent  rail- 
way accidents,  or  providing  for  their  investigation. 

I  think  Mr.  Moseley  came  to  have  a  peculiarly  favor- 
able regard  for  me,  and  he  used  to  come  to  me  almost 
constantly  concerning  the  legislative  propositions  before 
the  committee  in  which  he  was  interested.  I  found 
that  he  took  a  special  interest  in  everything  relating  to 
the  safety  of  railway  employees  and  the  traveling  public. 
On  every  proposition  of  the  sort  which  came  up,  he 
thoroughly  informed  himself,  and  I  think  I  never  took 
action  upon  any  such  proposition  without  having  a 
personal  consultation  with  Mr.  Moseley. 

A  part  of  the  time  the  legislative  agent  of  the  railway 
employees  in  Washington  was  very  autocratic  in  his 
demands  and  difficult  to  get  along  with,  but  I  never  knew 
Mr.  Moseley  to  lose  his  temper,  though  sometimes  un- 
justly accused. 

He  tried  to  get  legislation  which  would  be  protective 
to  the  vast  army  of  railway  employees  and  tend  to  pre- 
vent injury  and  accident  by  railway  operation.  We 
believed  him  to  be  sincere  in  his  efforts  and  to  be  well 
informed  as  to  details,  and  hence  he  had  great  influence. 
Much  of  the  railway  safety  appliance  legislation  was 
largely  molded  by  him,  and  the  railroad  employees  lost 
an  abl,e  friend  when  his  life  passed  away. 

JAMES  R.  MANN. 


290  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

HONORABLE  CHAMP  CLARK 

SPEAKER  OF  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

I  knew  the  Honorable  Edward  A.  Moseley  very  well 
during  his  service  with  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission. He  did  a  vast  amount  of  work  and  he  did  it 
well.  He  was  a  very  valuable  public  official. 

He  was  a  good  American  citizen  and  a  very  com- 
panionable and  interesting  gentleman.  I  regard  his 
death,  not  only  as  a  public  loss,  but  as  a  personal  be- 
reavement. 

CHAMP  CLARK. 

HONORABLE  JOSEPH  G.  CANNON 

FORMERLY  SPEAKER   OF  THE  HOUSE   OF  REPRESENTATIVES 

For  many  years  Edward  A.  Moseley  was  the  efficient 
Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  I 
knew  him  during  practically  the  whole  period  of  his 
incumbency  of  that  office,  and,  in  common  with  all  who 
had  knowledge  of  his  work,  I  regarded  him  as  an  im- 
portant factor  in  the  development  and  usefulness  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission. 

Able,  conscientious,  and  industrious,  the  labors  he  per- 
formed were  not  only  of  great  value  to  the  Commission, 
but  of  equal  value  to  all  the  people  of  the  United  States. 

J.  G.  CANNON. 


APPRECIATIONS  .        291 

HONORABLE  RICHARD  OLNEY 

FORMERLY  ATTORNEY-GENERAL   AND   SECRETARY   OF  STATE 

The  late  Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, Mr.  E.  A.  Moseley,  I  knew  and  highly  respected. 
At  the  same  time  our  personal  intercourse  was  com- 
paratively slight,  occurring  principally  in  the  years  be- 
tween 1895  and  1898  and  relating  to  the  suit  between  the 
receivers  of  the  Philadelphia  and  Reading  Railroad  and 
certain  employees  who  had  been  discharged  because  they 
belonged  to  a  labor  union,  and  to  a  proposed  bill  for  the 
arbitration  of  disputes  between  railroad  corporations  and 
their  employees. 

In  the  administration  of  his  office  his  diligence  was 
untiring,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  Commission  was  largely 
due  to  his  personal  efforts.  He  was  specially  interested 
in  all  measures  looking  to  the  welfare  of  railroad  em- 
ployees, himself  initiated  many  of  them,  and  if  their 
employment  is  to-day  better  paid,  less  dangerous  and 
attended  with  less  hardship  than  it  was  twenty  years  ago, 
the  result  is  to  be  largely  ascribed  to  his  zeal  and  his 
labors. 

RICHARD  OLNEY. 


292  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

HONORABLE  CHARLES  J.  BONAPARTE 

FORMERLY  ATTORNEY-GENERAL 

Mr.  Moseley  was  a  zealous,  indefatigable,  and  praise- 
worthy public  servant,  who  devoted  unreservedly  his 
time,  strength  and  talents  to  the  discharge  of  his  duties, 
and  was  a  prominent  factor  in  the  highly  salutary  work 
of  the  important  branch  of  the  Government  in  which  he 
served,  contributing  largely  to  its  efficiency  and  success. 

CHARLES  J.  BONAPARTE. 


HONORABLE  GEORGE  VON  L.  MEYER 

FORMERLY  SECRETARY  OF  THE  NAVY 

In  my  estimation  the  services  to  this  country  of 
Edward  A.  Moseley  as  a  specialist  in  the  broader  rail- 
way problems  have  been  of  the  greatest  value.  A  sub- 
ject so  vast  and  complex  required  specially  adapted  mental 
qualities,  and  to  this  question  Mr.  Moseley  bent  the 
powers  of  a  mind  well  qualified  to  cope  with  it. 

The  recognition  of  his  work  was  wide,  and  the  effect 
of  it  by  no  means  ceased  with  his  death. 

GEORGE  VON  L.  MEYER. 


APPRECIATIONS  293 

HONORABLE  GEORGE  GRAY 

JUDGE  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  COUKT  OP  APPEALS 

My  friendship  for  Mr.  Moseley  was  of  long  standing, 
and  I  felt  deeply  the  sudden  termination  of  his  useful 
life. 

I  became  acquainted  with  him  when  he  went  to  Wash- 
ington at  the  beginning  of  Mr.  Cleveland's  first  adminis- 
tration as  Secretary  of  the  newly  constituted  Interstate 
Commerce  Commission,  and  I  grew  somewhat  familiar 
with  what  he  undertook  and  so  successfully  accomplished 
in  relation  to  the  important  work  of  that  Commission. 
Sympathizing  with  the  purposes  Congress  had  in  view  by 
the  creation  of  the  Commission,  he  strove  with  whole- 
souled  devotion  to  promote  its  usefulness  and  to  inspire 
confidence  in  its  work. 

During  the  long  months  of  the  Anthracite  Coal  Strike 
Arbitration,  I  was  closely  associated  with  him  as  Secre- 
tary of  our  Commission,  and  I  shall  always  hold  in  grate- 
ful remembrance  the  absolute  fidelity  and  untiring  zeal 
that  characterized  his  efforts  to  make  successful  that 
greatest  of  industrial  arbitrations. 

He  did  his  work  with  so  little  of  self-exploitation,  that 
he  did  not  always  receive  the  credit  due  for  the  im- 
portant results  achieved  by  him. 

GEORGE  GRAY. 


294  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

MAJOR-GENERAL  LEONARD  WOOD 

CHIEF  OF  STAFF  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  ARMY 

Mr.  Moseley  was  of  the  greatest  assistance  to  me  as 
Military  Governor  of  Cuba  in  the  preparation  of  the 
present  railroad  law.  When  the  framework  of  the  law 
had  been  drawn  up,  the  matter  was  turned  over  to  Mr. 
Moseley  for  a  most  careful  study.  The  results  of  his 
work  were  embodied  in  many  important  changes,  all 
looking  to  the  improvement  of  the  law.  He  brought  to 
Havana  a  very  large  fund  of  experience  and  information 
gained  on  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission.  All 
who  came  in  contact  with  Mr.  Moseley  during  his  Cuban 
work  recognized  him  as  an  authority,  and  I  think  Sir 
William  Van  Home  and  all  others  who  were  thrown  in 
contact  with  him  during  this  period  formed  a  very  high 
opinion  of  his  abilities  and  a  warm  feeling  of  attachment 
and  friendship  for  him. 

As  for  myself,  I  can  never  forget  the  immense  value  of 
his  services. 

Mr.  Moseley  was  a  man  of  singularly  attractive  char- 
acter, frank,  cordial,  always  responding  cheerfully  to 
demands  for  assistance.  His  information  concerning 
railway  legislation  was  profound,  and  the  controlling 
motive  in  all  his  work  was  the  betterment  of  conditions, 
not  only  for  the  traveling  public,  but  for  the  vast  number 
of  people  employed  by  the  railroads.  This  feature  of 
his  work  in  the  Cuban  railroad  law  was  very  highly 
appreciated  by  railroad  men  in  this  country. 

LEONARD  WOOD. 


APPRECIATIONS  295 

HONORABLE  CHARLES  P.  NEILL 

UNITED  STATES  COMMISSIONER  OF  LABOR 

During  the  last  ten  years  of  his  life  it  was  my  privi- 
lege to  know  Edward  A.  Moseley  intimately.  Our 
common  interest  in  the  improvement  of  labor  conditions 
drew  us  together,  and  we  were  frequently  closely  asso- 
ciated on  the  same  work.  This  was  notably  true  during 
the  existence  of  the  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Commission 
in  1902-1903,  when  for  six  months  we  practically  lived 
together.  Each  succeeding  year  of  my  association  with 
Moseley  begot  an  increasing  respect  and  admiration  for 
the  unselfish  devotion  and  splendid  earnestness  with 
which  he  gave  himself  to  every  movement  that  looked 
to  the  betterment  of  the  condition  of  those  of  his  fellow 
men  who  bear  the  brunt  of  the  heavy  manual  toil  which 
society  requires  for  its  necessities  and  its  comforts.  Each 
of  those  succeeding  years  brought  with  it  also  an  in- 
creased personal  affection  for  the  kindly,  generous  and 
lovable  personality  which  was  united  hi  him  with  a 
vigorous  and  virile  character. 

I  have  known  few  men  who  had  the  genuine  interest 
of  their  fellow  men  at  heart  to  the  same  degree  that 
Moseley  had.  He  had  nothing  to  gain,  and  if  anything 
had  something  to  lose  because  of  his  open  and  persistent 
struggle  in  the  cause  of  industrial  betterment  for  the 
wage  earners ;  but  he  made  their  fight  his  fight,  fought  it 
unceasingly  and  nobly,  and  left  a  record  of  achievement 
behind  him  which  is  at  once  a  monument  and  an  inspira- 
tion. 

CHARLES  P.  NEILL. 


296  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

HONORABLE  GEORGE  G.  CROCKER 

FORMERLY  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  MASSACHUSETTS  RAILROAD  COMMIS- 
SION AND  CHAIRMAN  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  SAFETY  APPLIANCES 
OF  THE  NATIONAL  ASSOCIATION  OF  STATE  RAILROAD  COMMIS- 
SIONERS 

A  little  more  than  twenty  years  ago,  the  Massachu- 
setts Board  of  Railroad  Commissioners  organized  a 
movement  to  secure  legislation  by  Congress  requiring 
the  use  of  automatic  couplers  and  train  brakes  on  freight 
cars.  The  legislatures  of  the  various  States  were  roused 
to  memorialize  Congress,  and  the  matter  was  taken  up 
at  the  conventions  of  the  Railroad  Commissioners  of  the 
several  States,  which  at  that  time  were  held  annually  in 
the  offices  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  in 
Washington.  Pursuant  to  a  vote  passed  at  one  of  these 
conventions  in  1891,  Judge  Cooley,  Chairman  of  the 
Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  appointed  me  as 
chairman  of  a  committee  to  hear  the  parties  interested, 
and  draft  and  secure  the  passage  by  Congress  of  appro- 
priate legislation. 

Edward  A.  Moseley  was  intensely  interested  in  the 
movement.  He  gladly  consented  to  serve  as  secretary 
of  the  committee,  a  position  to  which  he  devoted  a  large 
amount  of  tune  and  thought.  He  persisted  in  the  work, 
and  the  passage  of  the  beneficent  Safety  Appliance  Law 
less  than  a  year  later  was  undoubtedly  due  more  to  his 
influence,  enthusiasm  and  disinterested  hard  work  than 
to  those  of  any  other  man. 

The  expenditure  involved  in  equipping  freight  cars 
with  the  train  brakes  and  automatic  couplers  was,  before 


APPRECIATIONS  297 

the  passage  of  the  law,  estimated  by  the  railroad  repre- 
sentatives at  $75,000,000.  They  claimed  that  any  com- 
pulsory law  would  be  ruinous,  even  if  ten  years  were 
allowed  for  the  work.  The  Switchmen's  Union,  whose 
members  were  the  greatest  sufferers  in  the  operation  of 
handling  the  old  link-and-pin  coupler,  also  opposed  the 
passage  of  the  law  on  the  ground  that  it  would  throw 
many  men  out  of  a  job. 

Mr.  Moseley,  however,  had  clearly  before  him  the 
dreadful  picture  of  the  annual  slaughter,  and  he  knew 
that  it  ought  to  be  stopped.  He  knew,  too,  that  by 
advocating  the  passage  of  the  law  he  risked  his  position. 
Unflinchingly  he  devoted  his  time  and  strength  to  the 
cause,  and  that  he  was  able  in  his  lifetime  to  see  the 
successful  results  of  his  work  was  to  him  a  source  of  great 
satisfaction.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  trainmen 
on  our  railroads  are  chiefly  indebted  to  Edward  A.  Moseley 
for  hastening  the  general  adoption  of  the  life-saving  ap- 
pliances covered  by  what  is  known  as  the  Safety  Ap- 
pliance Law. 

GEOKGE  G.  CROCKER. 

MR.  B.  B.  ADAMS 

OP  THE  RAILWAY  AGE 

Mr.  Moseley's  most  admirable  trait  was  his  courageous 
independence.  He  was  a  strong  partisan,  and  those  who 
opposed  him,  either  hi  the  courts  or  in  less  formal  affairs, 
encountered  a  persistence  which  knew  no  limit;  but  he 
always  meant  to  fight  only  for  the  right.  He  "gloried 


298  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

in  a  fight, "  but  his  energies  were  put  forth  in  causes  which 
not  only  appealed  to  him  as  just,  but  which  appealed  to 
humanitarian  motives  and  which  were  causes  needing  a 
strong  friend. 

The  brotherhoods  of  railroad  employees  had  reason  for 
gratitude,  not  only  for  his  friendship  and  influence,  but 
also  for  his  diplomacy  and  discretion.  If  the  brother- 
hood leaders  had  to  secure  their  beneficial  laws  solely 
through  negotiation  with  Congressmen,  engrossed  with 
other  important  affairs  as  Congressmen  must  be,  they 
would,  no  doubt,  have  suffered  many  delays  and  losses 
which  they  avoided  by  Mr.  Moseley's  knowledge  of  the 
field,  his  correct  estimate  of  the  hindrances,  and  his  un- 
intermittent  devotion  to  the  railroad  men's  welfare. 

The  railroad  companies  opposed  many  of  the  laws 
proposed  for  the  benefit  of  the  train  men  (largely  because 
they  desired  simply  to  interpose  delay),  and  thus  it  came 
about  that  Mr.  Moseley  was  often  in  the  thick  of  what 
seemed  to  be  a  conflict  between  labor  and  capital;  but 
he  was  always  able  to  declare  his  friendship  for  capital 
as  well  as  for  labor ;  and  he  strove  to  do  justice  to  both. 
His  generosity  was  constantly  in  evidence,  and  his  serv- 
ices for  the  brotherhoods  were  given  without  compen- 
sation. 

To  those  who  knew  hirn  it  is  superfluous  to  say  that  his 
aggressiveness  was  coupled  with  a  geniality,  genuine  and 
unfailing.  He  could  denounce  an  oppressor  in  the  most 
vigorous  style,  and  on  occasion  an  erring  or  shortsighted 
friend  —  say  a  labor  leader  —  could  be  rebuked  with 
invective  equally  sharp;  but  he  had  unbounded  con- 


APPRECIATIONS  299 

sideration  and  tenderness  not  only  for  his  intimate  friends, 
but  as  well  for  the  humbler  ones  with  whom  he  came  in 
contact.  A  poor  negro  woman,  appealing  to  the  Com- 
mission for  relief  from  the  "Jim  Crow  car"  laws,  never 
experienced  more  kindly  and  gracious  treatment  than 
she  received  at  the  hands  of  Secretary  Moseley. 

B.  B.  ADAMS. 


MR.  JOHN  MITCHELL 

FORMERLY  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  MINE  WORKERS  OF  AMERICA 

It  was  my  good  fortune  to  have  enjoyed  for  a  con- 
siderable number  of  years  the  acquaintance  and,  I  be- 
lieve, the  confidence  of  the  late  Edward  A.  Moseley.  I 
was  familiar  with  the  splendid  and  unselfish  service  he 
rendered  the  wage  earners  of  our  country,  especially 
those  employed  in  the  transportation  industries. 

He  was  a  potent  and  indispensable  factor  in  securing 
the  enactment  of  Federal  legislation  for  the  protection  of 
railway  employees;  his  service  in  this  respect  alone,  to 
say  nothing  of  his  great  and  sympathetic  interest  in  the 
uplift  of  common  humanity,  entitled  him  to  the  respect- 
ful and  loving  expressions  which  came  from  every  source 
at  the  time  of  his  death.  His  name  deserves  a  place 
among  the  names  of  men  who  made  the  world  better 
because  they  lived  in  it. 

JOHN  MITCHELL. 


300  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

ME.  T.  V.  POWDERLY 


THE  VETERAN  LABOR  LEADER 


A  friend  is  one  who  understands  you  without  explana- 
tion. Edward  A.  Moseley  was  my  friend. 

We  met  for  the  first  time,  over  a  quarter  of  a  century 
ago  in  Boston,  in  the  sanctum  of  John  Boyle  O'Reilly. 
James  Jeffrey  Roche  dropped  in  while  we  were  there, 
and  before  separating,  we  had  lunch  in  a  queer  little  old- 
fashioned  restaurant  which  they  called  Bohemia.  While 
there  O'Reilly,  at  Moseley's  request,  read  to  us  his  lines, 
"In  Bohemia"  from,  as  I  understood  him  to  say,  the 
original  manuscript. 

Mr.  Moseley  was  at  that  tune  a  member  of  the  Knights 
of  Labor  and  Master  Workman  of  his  local  assembly. 

The  acquaintance  with  Ned  Moseley,  as  O'Reilly  and 
Roche  called  him,  begun  that  day,  grew  to  a  friendship 
which  has  continued  ever  since.  I  learned  to  know  him 
intimately  and  to  love  him  for  his  faults  as  well  as  his 
virtues.  He  had  both.  His  faults  were  few  but  lovable ; 
his  virtues  many  and  worthy  of  emulation. 

I  shall  not  speak  of  his  official  life ;  others  will  do  that 
much  better  than  I  can. 

Fearless  and  outspoken  in  advocacy  of  what  he  deemed 
right,  he  had  but  scant  patience  with  those  who  took  the 
side  of  what  he  believed  wrong. 

Animated  by  the  largest  sympathy  for  the  man  who 
worked  with  his  hands,  he  listened  with  attentive  ear  to 
the  toiler's  plea  for  justice  and  did  what  he  could  to 
smooth  the  path  of  the  laboring  man  to  better  things. 


APPRECIATIONS  301 

Hypocrisy  was  alien  to  his  nature ;  he  despised  sham, 
deceit  and  cant.  He  was  a  man  of  earnest  deeds.  He  so 
valued  his  word  as  not  to  pass  it  lightly,  but  once  he 
gave  assurance  of  performance,  he  faithfully  fulfilled  his 
promise. 

It  was  a  delight  to  call  on  Moseley,  as  I  often  did,  and 
find  him  angry  at  some  thing  or  some  one.  If  the  object 
of  his  wrath  were  present,  so  much  the  better,  for  then  he 
spoke  so  plainly  and  forcibly  as  to  render  misinterpreta- 
tion impossible. 

Clouds  would  come  occasionally,  but  they  quickly 
dissolved  in  the  warmth  of  his  sunny  nature.  He  envied 
no  man,  and  in  word  and  deed  was  charitable  to  all. 
He  bore  no  resentment  beyond  the  hour  of  its  birth,  and 
the  word  "revenge"  found  no  abiding  place  in  his  vocabu- 
lary. 

Day  does  not  end  with  the  darkness  that  comes  at 
eventide,  it  goes  on  forever,  for  night  is  but  the  cloud 
passing  between  us  and  the  light.  We  know  the  day 
lives  on  and  that  we  shall  see  it  again.  Moseley's  life 
has  not  ended,  for  what  we  call  death  is  but  the  veil 
that  human  vision  cannot  penetrate.  The  splendid  work 
begun  by  him  goes  on,  and  others  will  be  better  equipped 
to  continue  it,  because  the  Master  Workman's  hand  gave 
initial  impetus  to  its  forward  movement. 

They  say  Ned  Moseley's  dead  —  not  so, 

He  lives,  he's  ever  near. 

We  cannot  see  his  face,  'tis  true, 

Or  touch  his  hand  so  dear ; 


302  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

We  know  the  earnest  work  he  did, 
Through  all  his  life,  for  men ; 
We  know  his  loving  deeds  live  on, 
And  in  them  he  lives  again. 

T.  V.  POWDERLY. 

MR.   W.   S.   CARTER 

PRESIDENT  BROTHERHOOD    OF  LOCOMOTIVE  FIREMEN  AND  ENGINEMEN 

My  personal  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Moseley  extended 
over  a  period  of  more  than  fifteen  years,  and  during  all 
that  time  I  not  only  valued  his  friendship  personally, 
but  greatly  appreciated  his  friendship  so  effectively  ex- 
pressed for  all  railroad  employees.  .  .  . 

It  appears  to  me  at  this  time  that  the  most  efficient 
and  effective  work  performed  by  our  late  friend,  Mr. 
Moseley,  was  in  the  early  days,  long  before  members  and 
officers  of  these  railway  labor  organizations  understood 
the  importance  of  railway  safety  appliance  legislation. 
In  the  latter  days,  when  it  was  popular  for  everybody  to 
support  such  legislation,  it  might  be  accepted  as  a  matter 
of  course  that  Mr.  Moseley,  as  Secretary  of  the  Inter- 
state Commerce  Commission,  would  be  greatly  interested 
therein. 

But  this  was  not  the  condition  of  affairs  in  the  begin- 
ning, for  at  that  time  Mr.  Moseley  not  only  had  to  con- 
vince government  officials  and  members  of  Congress  of 
the  necessity  of  enforcing  the  adoption  of  railway  safety 
appliances,  but  had  actually  to  convince  the  members 
and  officers  of  the  railway  brotherhoods  that  such  legis- 
lation was  beneficial  and  desirable. 


APPRECIATIONS  303 

Unfortunately,  there  are  comparatively  few  in  railway 
service  who  have  personal  knowledge  of  the  work  that 
Mr.  Moseley  did  at  that  time,  and  most  of  them  judge 
him  solely  upon  his  work  of  a  later  day,  when  so  many 
were  interested  in  the  same  movement,  and  he  appeared 
to  be  but  one  of  a  multitude  advocating  a  great  cause. 

W.  S.  CARTER. 
MR.  H.  B.  PERHAM 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  ORDER   OF  RAILROAD  TELEGRAPHERS 

This  country  has  produced  many  strong  characters, 
statesmen,  politicians,  diplomats,  and  men  of  big  business, 
and  the  operations  of  the  latter  class  are  known  and 
acknowledged  to  be  superior  by  the  leaders  in  other 
countries  of  the  world.  It  has  not  produced  many 
altruists,  perhaps  for  the  reason  that  there  has  been  less 
cause  for  their  existence  here  than  elsewhere ;  but  it  did 
produce  a  notable  one  in  the  person  of  Edward  A.  Moseley. 

He  was  a  cosmopolitan.  The  world  was  his  country, 
and  mankind  were  his  brothers.  His  sympathies  were 
with  the  lowly,  and  his  life  was  devoted  to  the  amelio- 
ration of  bad  conditions.  When  he  had  accomplished 
something  tangible  in  that  direction,  he  experienced  joys 
known  only  to  the  select  few.  When  reverses  came,  as 
they  did  occasionally,  he  suffered  physical  collapse,  but 
voiced  no  complaint. 

In  1898,  when  the  railroad  men's  Arbitration  Law  was 
being  considered  by  Congress,  it  was  largely  due  to  his 
activities  that  harmful  and  damaging  clauses  were  elimi- 
nated. When  the  Erdman  Bill  became  a  law,  it  was  a 


304  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

humane  proposition,  instead  of  an  instrument  of  slavery 
as  the  record  shows  it  to  have  been  at  one  period  of  its 
existence.  Another  commendable  feature  of  the  law  is 
that  it  recognizes  labor  organizations  in  no  uncertain 
way,  and  it  is  not  now  left  to  the  courts  to  ponder  over 
the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  a  workmen's  union  or  a 
labor  organization  is  a  legal  entity,  because  they  have 
been  recognized  by  Congress. 

In  the  conservation  of  human  life,  he  found  especial 
delight,  and  the  Safety  Appliance  Laws  in  behalf  of  rail- 
road employees  is  the  concrete  expression  thereof.  He 
worked  indefatigably  for  the  standard  height  bar  and  the 
automatic  coupler  law,  and  many  a  brakeman,  conductor, 
and  switchman  owes  his  very  life  to  our  friend,  without 
ever  in  the  least  being  conscious  of  the  fact. 

And  what  would  our  railroads  amount  to  now,  without 
that  beneficial  enactment  which  they  fought  at  that  time 
every  inch  of  the  way?  The  prevention  of  death  and 
injury  to  workmen  is,  or  should  be,  a  primary  considera- 
tion, and  just  compensation  for  such  matters  secondary, 
but  both  are  of  prime  importance,  and  Mr.  Moseley  was 
active  in  support  of  both  propositions  almost  continually, 
and  he  left  his  mark  upon  them. 

The  Hours  of  Service  Law  might  be  mentioned  as  one 
of  his  most  favored  ideas,  and  he  brought  that  to  a 
successful  issue.  But  his  activities  were  so  diversified 
and  the  length  of  his  services  to  humanity  covered  such 
a  period  of  years  that  I  am  liable  to  exceed  my  space 
limit  if  I  attempt  to  do  the  subject  justice. 

H.  B.  PERHAM. 


APPRECIATIONS  305 

MB.  S.  E.  HEBERLINQ 

PBESIDENT   OP  THE  SWITCHMEN'S  UNION   OF  NORTH  AMERICA 

I  first  met  Mr.  Moseley  over  twenty-one  years  ago, 
and  my  impression  of  him  has  been  that  all  who  came 
in  contact  with  him  were  bound  to  love  and  admire 
him  for  his  honest  and  sincere  purpose  to  benefit  men 
who  are  engaged  in  hazardous  occupations  on  railroads. 
I  personally  consider  his  death  the  greatest  loss  in  my 
day  and  time,  sustained  by  railroad  men. 

S.  E.  HEBERLING,  President. 
MR.   F.  T.  HAWLEY 

FORMERLY   PRESIDENT    OF   THE    SWITCHMEN'S   UNION    OF  NORTH 

AMERICA 

Edward  A.  Moseley  was  one  of  the  most  self-sacrificing 
men  of  modern  times.  Were  it  not  for  his  activity,  rail- 
way employees  would  now  have  but  little  protection  in 
Federal  statutes. 

Having  been  closely  associated  with  him  in  legislative 
matters,  I  can  say  he  labored  against  the  greatest  difficul- 
ties in  his  efforts  for  the  elimination,  or,  at  least,  the  limit- 
ing of  dangers  to  railroad  employees,  during  which  time 
the  awful  toll  of  death  was  exacted  to  such  an  alarming 
extent,  that  at  last  he  aroused  the  public  to  a  proper 
realization  of  the  hazardous  duties  of  the  men  he  aimed 
to  protect,  and  then  the  tide  turned  and  he  succeeded. 

After  the  laws  were  passed,  his  greatest  labors  were  in 


306  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

enforcing  them,  for  the  violations  were  numerous,  and  the 
technicalities  which  were  given  as  a  cause  for  violating 
them  were  so  many  and  so  frequent,  that  the  duty  im- 
posed was  a  severe  mental  strain,  to  which  he  eventually 

succumbed. 

F.  T.  HAWLEY. 

MB.  W.  F.   HYNES 

A    PIONEER    REPRESENTATIVE    OP    THE    RAILROAD    BROTHERHOODS    IN 

WASHINGTON 

My  first  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Moseley  was  in  the 
winter  of  1896,  in  the  city  of  Washington,  while  repre- 
senting the  five  great  railroad  brotherhoods,  to  wit : 
The  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Engineers,  the  Order 
of  Railroad  Conductors,  the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive 
Firemen,  the  Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Trainmen,  and  the 
Order  of  Railroad  Telegraphers. 

Before  I  went  to  Washington,  Mr.  Moseley  had  urged 
upon  the  organizations  with  such  force  the  necessity  of 
legislation  that  they  finally  took  a  determined  position 
to  secure  protective  laws,  and,  strangely  enough,  he  was 
opposed  in  some  instances  by  the  very  men  whom  he 
sought  to  relieve.  His  indomitable  courage,  and  his  un- 
swerving loyalty  to  a  cause  that  appealed  to  him  with 
such  peculiar  force,  bore  down  all  opposition  and  swept  it 
aside,  even  to  the  hurtful  sneer  that  referred  to  "  Mose- 
ley 's  fad/'  as  some  characterized  it.  Since  that  time  the 
several  railroad  brotherhoods  have  maintained  one  or 
more  representatives  in  Washington  to  assist  in  carrying 
forward  this  work. 


APPRECIATIONS  307 

In  his  fearless  campaign,  Mr.  Moseley  brought  upon 
himself  the  enmity  of  the  powerful  corporations  through- 
out the  republic  who  were  subjected  to  inspection  and 
other  requirements  of  the  statutes.  He  did  not  abuse 
the  duties  of  the  responsible  position  which  he  held  as 
Secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  but 
he  frankly  pointed  out  the  unnecessary  dangers,  not  only 
to  the  lives  of  the  employees,  but  also  to  those  of  the 
traveling  public,  not  to  speak  of  the  great  property  value 
which  was  annually  sacrificed.  Without  doubt  every  rail- 
road company  in  the  country  to-day  would  oppose  any 
attempt  to  repeal  those  statutes,  so  beneficial  have  they 
proved  to  be  for  the  employee,  the  public,  and  the  employer. 

The  Erdman  Arbitration  Act,  which  became  a  law  on 
June  1,  1898,  was  secured  principally  by  the  efforts  of 
Mr.  Moseley. 

In  looking  over  the  records  of  railroad  organizations, 
particularly  in  relation  to  strikes,  he  found,  among  other 
things,  that  they  suffered  in  a  cruel  way  from  a  peculiar 
operation  of  law,  and  that  on  more  than  one  occasion 
men  were  found  guilty  of  contempt  of  a  court  whose  exist- 
ence even  had  not  entered  their  dreams.  In  1896,  a 
bill  was  introduced  giving  such  a  defendant  the  right  to 
purge  himself  from  contempt  by  a  trial  before  a  jury  and 
by  a  judge,  other  than  the  one  whose  order  was  alleged 
to  have  been  violated.  "This,"  said  Mr.  Moseley,  "is 
only  what  the  veriest  criminal  demands  and  receives 
under  the  law,  and  surely  you  cannot  deny  that  such 
consideration  should  be  given  to  the  honest  working  man." 

His  efforts  in  this  direction  were  quiet  and  yet  so  insist- 


308  EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY 

ent  and  irresistible  that  that  conservative  body,  the 
United  States  Senate,  passed  such  a  measure.  But  it  was 
defeated  or,  rather,  was  buried  in  committee  in  the  House. 
I  might  say  in  passing  that  this  bill  met  its  fate  at  a  time 
when  Mr.  Moseley  was  sick  and  of  necessity  was  absent 
from  the  city  of  Washington. 

His  incessant  toil  in  behalf  of  the  railroad  workers,  his 
anxiety  to  forward  their  interest  and  protect  their  lives 
by  proper  legislation,  his  correspondence,  and  the  thou- 
sand things  which  he  did  for  the  benefit  of  this  class,  can 
never  be  fully  known. 

His  heart  and  his  pocketbook  were  ever  open.  I  am 
inclined  to  believe  that  his  monthly  salary  was  a  very 
insignificant  amount  after  his  gifts  and  charity  were 
subtracted.  There  was  absolutely  no  ostentation  or  dis- 
play in  anything  he  did.  He  was  a  foe  to  the  boaster 
in  any  form,  and  the  personification  of  modesty.  He 
despised  affectation  and  pretense,  and  had  little  patience 
with  the  hypocrite. 

He  was  eminently  fair  and  absolutely  fearless.  He  was 
the  poorest  man  I  ever  knew  upon  whom  to  run  a  bluff, 
and  many  found  to  their  discomfort  the  folly  of  such  an 
experiment.  Yet  it  was  hard,  very  hard,  to  quarrel  with 
him.  He  was  kind,  forbearing,  and  exceedingly  tolerant. 

Massachusetts  has  given  some  great  statesmen  and 
citizens  to  the  republic,  and  they  have  done  much  in  its 
construction  and  in  shaping  its  high  and  inspiring  destiny. 
Mr.  Moseley  did  all  he  could  for  his  country  and  humanity. 
They  did  no  more. 

W,  F.  HYNES. 


APPENDIX 

WASHINGTON,  December  6,  1898. 

TESTIMONY  OF  MR.   EDWARD  A.   MOSELEY, 
SECRETARY  OF  THE  INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION 

BEFORE    THE    INDUSTRIAL   COMMISSION 

THE  commission  met  at  11  A.M.,  December  6,  1898,  Vice- 
Chairman  Phillips  presiding.  Mr.  Edward  A.  Moseley,  secre- 
tary of  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  testified.  Mr. 
Phillips  suggested  that  the  witness  be  guided  by  the  syllabus 
on  transportation  in  giving  his  testimony. 

MR.  MOSELEY.  I  desire  to  say  that  I  am  here  in  the  capacity 
of  an  American  citizen,  who  for  many  years  has  paid  a  good  deal 
of  attention  to  the  relations  between  employer  and  employee, 
particularly  in  connection  with  railroad  labor.  I  was  at  one 
time  an  officer  in  one  of  the  largest  labor  organizations  in  this 
country,  and  have  always  taken  a  great  interest  in  this  sub- 
ject. Then,  as  the  secretary  of  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  I  have  been  brought  into  more  or  less  intimate 
connection  with  the  railroads  and  the  relations  which  they 
bear  to  the  public  and  to  their  employees,  as  well  as  to  each 
other.  It  must  be  understood,  however,  that  I  do  not  in  any 
manner  represent  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission,  but 
I  am  here  solely  as  a  citizen  whose  whole  heart  is  wrapped  up 
in  the  subject  of  the  relations  between  capital  and  labor  and 
the  proper  position  which  they  should  occupy  to  each  other. 
I  therefore  gladly  make  such  suggestions  as  appear  to  me  and 
which  I  trust  will  prove  of  interest  to  this  commission.  In 
doing  so  I  am  happy  to  follow  the  suggestion  of  Mr.  Phillips, 
your  chairman,  whom  I  have  long  known  as  the  friend  of  those 

interests  which  I  desire  to  conserve  so  far  as  I  can. 

309 


310  APPENDIX 

The  first  part  of  your  " topical  plan  of  inquiry"  relates  to 
the  "  Character  of  duties  and  classification  of  employees  of 
railroads  and  other  carriers  by  land."  First,  regarding  the 
wages  of  employees,  I  desire  to  pass  that  and  come  to  the  ques- 
tion of  blacklisting  discharged  employees  and  compulsory  per- 
formance of  service  under  mandatory  injunction. 

Q.  (by  MR.  FARQUHAR).  Which  section?  A.  That  is 
Part  I,  Section  1,  "  Wages  of  employees."  I  do  not  now  know 
of  any  demand  by  the  employed  that  further  legislation  be  had 
in  regard  to  blacklisting  in  amendment  of  the  law  as  it  now 
stands.  It  forbids  blacklisting.  I  allude  to  section  10  of 
the  arbitration  act  of  June  1,  1898. 

After  the  " Chicago  strike"  there  was  a  large  number  of 
employees  thrown  out  of  employment  who  have  never  been  able 
to  obtain  employment  again.  It  is  alleged  that  these  men  would 
go  to  the  railway  managers  and  ask  for  certificates  of  good 
character  to  enable  them  to  get  employment  elsewhere,  but 
that  the  certificate  obtained  worked  them  harm  rather  than 
good,  for  by  a  method  of  writing  the  certificate  or  by  use  of 
certain  watermarks,  or  other  means,  the  paper  of  apparent 
recommendation  proved  to  be  notice  to  the  person  receiving 
it  that  the  applicant  was  blacklisted;  that  there  was  a  very 
large  amount  of  this  blacklisting  done  even  where  to  all  out- 
ward appearances  strong  letters  of  recommendation  had  been 
given.  So  much  of  a  wrong  had  this  become  that  when  the 
arbitration  act  was  enacted  by  the  last  Congress,  approved 
June  1,  1898,  in  the  tenth  section,  which  is  next  to  the  last 
section,  it  is  positively  forbidden  in  any  way  to  blacklist  a 
man,  and  is  made  a  misdemeanor  to  do  so.  I  call  the  atten- 
tion of  the  commission  to  this  law.  It  is  the  act  concerning  car- 
riers engaged  in  interstate  commerce  and  their  employees.  .  .  . 

Blacklisting,  of  course,  is  one  of  those  evils  which  is  ex- 
tremely difficult  to  meet  —  to  make  any  law  which  is  effective 
against  the  practice.  If  a  person  does  not  wish  to  employ  a 


APPENDIX  311 

man,  or  wants  to  see  that  some  one  else  does  not  employ  him, 
the  methods  of  doing  so  and  preventing  the  applicant  from 
gaining  employment  on  other  railroads  are  easily  found,  and 
it  is  very  hard  indeed  to  reach  it  by  effective  legislation.  Con- 
gress has,  however,  put  its  stamp  of  disapproval  on  it  and  made 
it  a  misdemeanor,  and  I  do  not  now  know  how  to  strengthen 
the  law  in  this  particular;  still,  I  believe  there  is  a  necessity 
for  at  least  making  the  attempt  to  stamp  out  blacklisting 
effectively,  and  I  urge  this  commission  to  fully  consider  this 
subject  with  that  end  in  view. 

THE  INJUNCTION  PROCESS 

"Proceedings  for  contempt"  ought  to  be  fairly  looked  into, 
whether  the  road  is  in  the  hands  of  a  receiver  or  not,  as  the 
question  is  one  in  which  the  railroad  brotherhoods  of  the  coun- 
try are  to-day  very  much  interested.  Such  employees  should 
not  be  punished  for  contempt  for  acts  done  outside  of  the 
purview  of  the  court.  This  matter  has  proceeded  to  such  an 
extreme  that  in  a  case  on  the  Northern  Pacific  Railroad  the 
judge  of  the  court  enjoined  Mr.  Arthur,  chief  executive  officer 
of  the  locomotive  engineers ;  Mr.  Sargent,  chief  executive  officer 
of  the  firemen;  Mr.  Clark,  chief  executive  officer  of  the  con- 
ductors; Mr.  Wilkinson,  chief  executive  officer  of  the  train- 
men ;  Mr.  Ramsay,  chief  executive  officer  of  the  telegraphers  ; 
and  Mr.  Wilson,  chief  executive  officer  of  the  Switchmen's 
Mutual  Aid  Association  —  all  heads  of  their  various  brother- 
hoods and  hundreds  of  miles  away  —  from  in  any  way  consult- 
ing with  the  members  of  their  brotherhoods  in  regard  to  the 
question  of  wages,  or  the  hours  of  labor,  or  in  regard  to  any 
question  which  was  then  in  dispute.  .  .  . 

I  know  of  nothing  more  exasperating  to  the  wage  worker 
than  the  apparent  arbitrary  action  of  the  courts  in  the  issuance 
of  mandatory  injunctions  in  this  class  of  cases  and  subsequent 
proceedings  for  contempt.  This  use  of  the  injunction  fills 


312  APPENDIX 

many  of  those  who  are  deeply  interested  in  the  welfare  of  their 
country  with  great  alarm.  It  is  a  matter  of  the  greatest  sur- 
prise to  Englishmen  to  observe  the  way  in  which  the  power  of 
the  court  is  strained  in  this  respect.  An  injunction  is  never 
issued  there  without  the  greatest  deliberation.  In  this  country 
it  seems  to  be  had  for  the  asking,  particularly  whenever  an 
employer  desires  to  get  the  influence  of  the  court  thrown  into 
the  scale  in  his  favor  when  a  dispute  between  himself  and  his 
workmen  arises.  Whatever  warrant  there  may  be  for  the 
Federal  courts  to  interfere  in  disputes  between  the  carriers  en- 
gaged in  interstate  commerce  and  their  employees,  it  is  straining 
power  for  the  Federal  judges  to  interfere  in  those  disputes  which 
are  simply  between  those  engaged  in  ordinary  industrial  pursuits 
and  their  employees.  It  is  bringing  the  Federal  judiciary 
into  disrepute,  and  if  something  is  not  done  to  curb  this  un- 
justifiable act  on  the  part  of  some  of  the  Federal  judges  it  will 
surely  bring  disaster  to  our  institutions. 

In  the  first  place,  a  railroad  employer  or  manager,  anticipat- 
ing a  difficulty  which  is  apparently  about  to  take  place,  rushes 
to  a  friendly  court.  I  want  to  state  just  for  a  moment  in  regard 
to  the  Lennon  case.  It  is  stated  that  the  judge  in  this  case 
was  at  his  home  in  Cleveland  and  was  summoned  by  telegraph ; 
was  rushed  through  in  the  special  car  of  the  corporation  to 
Toledo ;  went  to  the  offices  of  the  railroad  company,  where  the 
railroad  officials  presented  their  side  of  the  case  to  him  behind 
the  closed  doors  of  the  railroad  corporation,  and  where  also 
he  issued  the  injunction,  and  the  first  knowledge  that  the  men 
had  of  the  action  was  when  the  injunction  was  served  on  them. 
They  had  no  opportunity  —  there  was  no  chance  for  them  to 
say  a  word,  and  there  was  no  chance  for  them  to  explain  to  the 
court.  The  court  took  the  one  side  at  once  and  threw  its  whole 
influence  to  the  railroad. 

This  commission  will  give  the  railroad  employees,  through 
their  representatives,  an  opportunity  to  be  heard,  and  they  will 


APPENDIX  313 

convince  you  that  this  is  a  question  which  needs  the  most  care- 
ful consideration  on  your  part.  This  is  a  matter  which  con- 
cerns every  wage  worker  in  the  country.  Their  representatives 
will  fairly  present  this  question  to  you.  There  ought  to  be  a 
law  prohibiting  courts  of  the  United  States  from  enforcing  the 
specific  performance  of  contracts  for  personal  service  by  writs 
of  injunction.  The  following  bill  to  this  effect  has  been  sug- 
gested :  — 

"A  BILL  to  prohibit  courts  of  the  United  States  from  enforc- 
ing the  specific  performance  of  contracts  for  personal  serv- 
ice by  writs  of  injunction  or  other  legal  proceedings." 
******  * 

though  since  the  passage  of  the  arbitration  bill  of  June,  1898,  I 

seriously  doubt  if  any  Federal  judge  will  ever  undertake  again 

to  force  men  against  their  will  by  injunction. 

PECULIAR  OBLIGATIONS 

I  do  not  come  here  —  neither  will  the  railroad  employees 
through  their  representatives  come  here  —  and  say  that  there 
are  not  circumstances  under  which  a  railroad  employee  is  just 
as  much  bound  to  continue  his  employment  as  is  a  pilot  on 
board  ship  in  a  dangerous  sea  way.  A  railway  engineer  dissatis- 
fied with  the  terms  of  his  employment  has  no  business  to  leave 
a  train  load  of  passengers  out  on  a  prairie.  A  freight  engineer 
has  no  right  to  leave  his  train  in  a  position  where  it  endangers 
the  lives  of  others.  There  is  right  and  reason  in  all  things. 
The  railway  employee  recognizes  that  to  a  certain  extent  he  is 
performing  a  public  service,  and  to  that  extent  he  is  a  public 
servant;  that  the  railroad  is  performing  a  public  service  and 
he,  as  a  servant  of  the  railroad,  owes  a  duty  to  the  public  which 
those  engaged  in  the  ordinary  industrial  pursuits  do  not. 

The  man  engaged  in  the  cotton  factory,  the  man  engaged  in 
any  ordinary  vocation,  can  leave  his  employment  at  any  time, 


314  APPENDIX 

at  any  hour,  and  in  any  way,  and  the  public  cannot  properly 
question  his  right  to  do  that;  but  in  the  case  of  the  railroad 
and  the  railroad  employee  the  great  overpowering  third  party, 
the  public,  has  certain  rights,  and  the  railway  employees  recog- 
nize those  rights.  In  that  respect  I  think  they  differ  from  other 
organizations  or  employments.  They  stand  on  a  different 
plane,  occupy  a  different  relation  to  the  public ;  and  as  the  gen- 
eral public  has  a  right  to  demand  from  them  certain  service, 
they  must  have  equal  right  to  demand  and  expect  from  Congress 
such  measures  of  protection  as  are  warranted.  If  not  provided 
for  by  the  National  Government,  they  are  practically  without 
such  protection.  Questions  concerning  those  engaged  in  the 
ordinary  industrial  pursuits  are  largely  matters  for  the  several 
States  to  deal  with. 

Before  leaving  this  subject,  I  desire  to  call  attention  to  the 
Royal  Commission  on  Labor,  whose  investigations  began  May 
1,  1891,  and  whose  final  report  was  submitted  June,  1894,  in 
two  volumes,  the  majority  report  signed  by  nineteen  and  the 
minority  by  four  commissioners.  Their  work  is  comprised  in 
sixty-five  blue  books,  twenty-five  being  taken  up  with  the  tes- 
timony of  witnesses.  In  addition  to  these  reports,  the  blue 
book  contains  separate  statements  of  the  individual  views  of 
certain  members  of  the  commission  of  much  interest  and  value. 
.  .  .  These  reports,  majority  and  minority,  of  the  above  com- 
mission are  most  valuable,  and  should  be  in  the  library  of  this 
commission.  .  .  . 

GOVERNMENT  OWNERSHIP 

As  to  general  government  ownership  and  control  of  indus- 
tries the  discussion  is  endless,  both  in  England  and  in  this  coun- 
try. In  regard  to  government  ownership  of  railroads  in  the 
United  States  the  discussion  ought  to  be  concluded,  at  least 
for  the  present,  if  facts  are  to  govern  the  decision.  Note,  for 
example,  a  statement  recently  prepared  by  the  Interstate 


APPENDIX  315 

Commerce  Commission,  in  compliance  with  a  resolution  of  the 
Senate  and  submitted  August  27,  1894. 

"The  freight  rates,"  says  this  statement,  "in  the  United 
States  are,  in  general  terms,  only  five-eighths  of  those  charged 
on  the  Continent  of  Europe  and  a  little  less  than  one-half  of 
those  which  prevail  in  Great  Britain. "  As  shown  elsewhere  in 
this  statement,  the  railways  on  the  Continent  of  Europe  are 
largely  owned  and  operated  by  Government.  In  Belgium, 
71.81  per  cent  of  the  railway  mileage  is  both  owned  and  oper- 
ated by  the  Government ;  hi  Denmark,  76.96  per  cent  so  owned 
and  operated;  in  France,  16.89  per  cent;  in  Norway,  95.67 
per  cent;  in  Portugal,  37.86  per  cent;  in  Prussia,  including 
Finland,  50.75  per  cent;  in  Sweden,  33.69  per  cent;  while  in 
Austria-Hungary,  39.98  per  cent  of  the  mileage  is  owned  and 
73.36  per  cent  operated  by  the  Government ;  and  in  Germany, 
88.42  per  cent  is  owned  and  89.52  per  cent  is  operated  by  the 
Government.  .  .  . 

NEGLIGENCE  OF  FELLOW-SERVANTS 

The  great  conflict  of  authority  respecting  the  rule  as  to  when 
two  employees  are  fellow-servants  has  caused  various  States 
of  the  Union  to  pass  acts  upon  the  subject.  The  proposed  ob- 
ject of  such  acts  is,  generally,  to  correct  either  a  previous  bad 
statement  or  a  previous  bad  judicial  decision.  Alabama, 
Massachusetts,  Colorado,  Indiana,  and  other  States  have 
passed  employers'  liability  acts  based  upon  the  English  act 
of  1880.  In  the  case  of  railroad  employees,  these  acts  give 
the  employees  a  right  of  action  against  their  employers  for  in- 
juries caused  by  reason  of  the  negligence  of  any  person  having 
charge  or  control  of  certain  railroad  instrumentalities. 

In  some  States  the  defense  of  fellow-servant's  negligence 
has  even  been  abolished  in  certain  cases  by  statute;  other 
States  have  no  legislation  upon  the  subject;  and  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court  has  decided  in  the  Baugh  case,  "against 


316  APPENDIX 

the  trend  of  some  former  cases,"  as  Judge  Acheson  says,  that 
in  the  absence  of  State  legislation  the  question  is  not  one  of 
local  law  upon  which  the  Federal  courts  are  bound  to  follow 
the  State  decisions,  but  is  one  of  general  law  upon  which  the 
Federal  courts  may  exercise  their  independent  judgment,  un- 
controlled by  local  decisions.  Thus  appears  the  anomalous 
condition  of  suits  for  damages  in  a  State,  based  upon  the  same 
facts,  which  are  governed  by  different  principles  of  law,  de- 
pendent upon  whether  the  suits  are  brought  in  the  courts  of  the 
State  or  in  the  courts  of  the  United  States.  There  is  great  need 
of  legislation  by  Congress  upon  this  point.  A  uniformity  is 
very  much  to  be  desired  in  the  legal  principles  governing  such 
cases. 

Again :  A  Federal  court  which  sits  in  one  State  may  enforce 
the  statute  of  another  State,  where  the  injury  occurred,  although 
the  local  State  courts  of  the  State  wherein  the  Federal  court 
sits  have  refused  to  enforce  such  statute.  Even  a  decision  by 
a  State  court  that  no  action  can  be  maintained  under  a  statute 
of  another  State  is  not  binding  upon  a  Federal  court  sitting  in 
the  first  State  in  another  like  case :  Cox  Case  (145  U.  S.  593). 
There  the  " general  law"  doctrine  also  intervened  and  overrode 
the  local  statute.  New  legislation  is  necessary  along  this  line, 
too,  in  order  to  clear  up  such  conflict  and  confusion  and  to  es- 
tablish a  uniform  mode  of  procedure  in  all  the  Federal  courts. 

EMPLOYERS'  LIABILITY 

The  weight  of  authorities  establishes  that  a  carrier  is  bound 
to  the  exercise  of  reasonable  care  with  reference  to  all  the  appli- 
ances of  its  business,  and  is  bound  to  protect  its  employees  from 
injury  therefrom  by  reason  of  latent  or  unseen  defects  so  far 
as  such  care  can  do  so ;  but  the  carrier  is  not  an  insurer  to  its 
employees  against  injury,  and  is  only  chargeable  for  damages 
happening  to  its  employees  from  defective  appliances  when 
negligence  can  properly  be  imputed  to  the  carrier. 


APPENDIX  317 

I  believe  that  an  investigation  by  this  Commission  will  show 
that  the  time  has  come  when  the  Congress  of  the  United  States 
should  declare  itself  in  regard  to  these  unsettled  questions  which 
are  being  so  differently  determined  by  different  courts,  and  for 
which  there  exists  no  fixed  rule  of  decision. 

In  England,  considerable  progress  has  been  made  in  that 
direction.  The  state  of  the  law  there,  as  I  understand  it,  is  as 
follows :  Under  the  old  common  law  the  employer  was  only 
liable  in  damages  for  injuries  caused  to  any  one  by  the  negli- 
gence of  his  servants,  and  then  an  exception  was  made  when  the 
person  knowingly  incurred  the  risk.  The  courts  held,  on  the 
ground  that  a  workman  when  he  engaged  himself  in  any  serv- 
ice was  aware  that  in  all  employments  the  risk  of  injuries  by 
the  negligence  of  fellow-employees  would  be  incurred,  that  an 
employer  was  not,  therefore,  liable  to  the  workman  for  the 
injuries  thus  incurred.  The  first  step  to  relieve  the  employee 
of  this  hardship  was  the  Employers'  Liability  Act  of  1880.  At 
the  time  of  its  passage  business  men  all  over  the  country  pre- 
dicted ruin  to  the  employers,  but  during  nearly  two  decades  of 
operation  the  predictions  have  not  been  fulfilled,  and  on  the 
contrary  it  has  been  seen  that  the  principle  enunciated  could 
be  further  invoked. 

A  bill  entitled  the  Employers'  Liability  Act  of  1893  was  intro- 
duced in  Parliament  by  Mr.  Asquith,  but  it  did  not  become  a 
law.  It  was  constructed  along  the  lines  of  the  act  above  men- 
tioned, but  in  addition  prohibited  "contracting  out."  The 
Workmen's  Compensation  Act  of  1897,  operative  July  1,  1898, 
and  introduced  by  Mr.  Chamberlain,  is  a  further  evolution  of 
the  principle.  It,  too,  practically  prohibits  " contracting  out" 
and  at  the  same  time  makes  the  employer  virtually  the  insurer 
of  the  employee.  Instead  of  the  negative  exposition,  this  new 
act  declares  the  employer  liable  for  all  injuries  and  excepts  those 
occasioned  by  the  serious  and  willful  misconduct  of  the  em- 
ployee. A  schedule  of  compensations  or  damages  for  which 


318  APPENDIX 

the  employer  is  variously  liable  is  included  in  the  act.  These 
liabilities  are  so  large  that  employers  are  compelled  to  resort 
to  insurance  companies,  or,  for  cheaper  indemnity,  to  mutual 
combinations.  Contrary  to  expectations,  the  insurance  com- 
panies have  raised  their  charges  very  much,  but  it  is  conserva- 
tively hoped  that  the  experience  of  a  short  period  of  time  will 
prove  the  lack  of  necessity  for  such  advances  in  rates. 

This  act,  by  fastening  the  liability  upon  the  employers,  makes 
a  great  stride  toward  the  principle  that  the  trades  and  indus- 
tries in  which  an  employee  is  engaged  at  the  time  of  the  injury 
should  bear  the  burden  of  the  relief  and  maintenance  of  the  in- 
jured man  and  those  dependent  upon  him. 

Q.  (by  MR.  C.  J.  HARRIS).  Is  there  something  about  limit 
of  liability  in  the  English  law?  A.  The  bill  provides  That 
where  personal  injury  is  caused  to  a  workman  by  reason  of  the 
negligence  of  any  person  in  the  service  of  the  workman's  em- 
ployer, the  workman,  or,  in  case  of  the  injury  resulting  in  death, 
his  representatives,  shall  have  the  same  right  to  compensation 
and  remedies  against  the  employer  as  if  the  workman  had 
not  been  in  the  employer's  service.  An  exception  to  this  is 
made  where  the  workman,  knowing  of  the  negligence,  failed, 
without  reasonable  excuse,  to  notify  employer,  etc.  A  con- 
tract made  before  the  accrual  of  the  right  is  not  a  defense. 
The  employer,  however,  in  case  he  has  contributed  to  a  fund 
providing  any  benefit  for  the  workman,  when  sued  shall  be  en- 
titled, in  the  place  of  the  workman,  to  any  money  payable  out 
of  the  fund.  And  if  the  employer  is  sued  and  payment  of  a 
fine,  under  any  act  of  Parliament  in  respect  to  the  same  cause  of 
action,  has  not  been  paid,  the  workman  shall  not  be  entitled 
thereafter  to  receive  any  such  fine. 

Q.  Do  you  know,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  whether  they  have 
limited  liability  by  legislation  there  ?  A.  To  the  extent  I  have 
stated. 

The  Act  of  1880  makes  the  employer  liable  for  injuries  to 


APPENDIX  319 

the  workman  caused  by  defect  of  machinery,  negligence  of  a 
person  in  the  employer's  service  intrusted  with  superintendence 
or  with  authority  over  the  injured  man,  or  any  act  or  omission 
done  or  made  in  obedience  to  the  orders  or  by-laws  of  the  em- 
ployer, or  by  the  negligence  of  any  person  in  charge  of  railway 
signals,  etc.,  while  the  Bill  of  1893  would  make  the  employer 
liable  to  the  injured  workman  where  the  injury  was  caused  by 
the  negligence  of  any  person  in  the  service  of  the  employer. 
Both  place  the  workman  in  the  same  position  as  if  he  were  not  in 
the  service  of  the  employer.  By  the  Act  of  1880  the  employer 
was  protected  by  exceptions  in  which  he  was  morally  innocent, 
while  Bill  118  excepts  him  only  when  the  employee,  knowing 
of  the  negligence,  failed  without  reasonable  excuse  to  notify 
the  employer,  etc.  The  Bill  adds,  further,  that  a  contract  made 
before  the  accrual  of  the  right  is  not  a  defense. 

On  the  other  hand,  by  it  the  employer,  when  he  has  contrib- 
uted to  a  fund  providing  any  benefit  to  the  workman  and  the 
employer  is  sued,  he  is  entitled,  in  the  place  of  the  workman, 
to  any  money  payable  out  of  the  fund.  And  if  sued  and  pay- 
ment of  a  fine  under  any  act  of  Parliament  in  respect  to  the 
same  cause  of  action  has  not  been  paid  by  the  employer, 
the  workman  shall  not  be  entitled  thereafter  to  any  such  fine. 
Unlike  the  Act,  the  Bill  does  not  limit  the  amount  of  damages 
recoverable,  nor  does  it  limit  the  time  within  which  the  action 
must  be  brought.  Both  provide  that  the  action  must  lie  in  the 
county  court,  but  can  be  carried  into  a  higher  court. 

CONFLICTING  RULES 

In  some  of  our  own  States  we  have  limited  liability;  that  is, 
that  a  death  claim  cannot  exceed  $5000.  It  is  so  in  Massachu- 
setts. Damages  recoverable  for  death  through  negligence : 
$5000  in  Colorado,  Connecticut,  Illinois,  Massachusetts,  Maine, 
Minnesota,  Missouri,  New  Hampshire,  New  York,  Oregon, 
Pennsylvania,  Wisconsin,  West  Virginia  —  13 ;  $10,000  in 


320  APPENDIX 

District  of  Columbia,  Ohio,  and  Virginia  —  3.  Now,  at  least, 
the  Congress  should  either  do  that,  or  it  should  endeavor  to  se- 
cure harmony  of  decisions  of  State  and  Federal  courts. 

The  case  of  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  against  Baugh 
(United  States  Supreme  Court  Reports,  vol.  149,  p.  368)  is  a 
very  peculiar  case.  I  want  to  state  something  about  it  in  an  off- 
hand way.  Baugh  was  an  employee  on  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio 
Railroad ;  he  was  injured,  and  brought  a  suit  in  the  State  court. 
The  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  a 
foreign  corporation,  had  this  case  removed  to  the  United  States 
Circuit  Court.  It  was  tried  in  the  United  States  Circuit  Court. 
The  court  followed  the  decisions  of  the  State  court,  and  damages 
were  awarded  Baugh.  The  case  then  went  to  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States  on  appeal  from  this  decision  — 
made  by  court  of  the  carrier's  own  choosing  —  and  the  Supreme 
Court  held  that  the  railroad  was  not  liable. 

Now,  you  see  this  curious  state  of  affairs :  Here  are  two  par- 
allel roads.  If  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  had  been  a  corporation 
of  the  State  of  Ohio,  his  case  would  have  been  maintained  in  a 
State  court,  where  undoubtedly  he  would  have  obtained  redress ; 
but  here  was  a  foreign  corporation  paralleling  a  State  road,  and 
Baugh  was  injured  with  impunity.  The  fact  of  being  a  foreign 
corporation  deprived  him  of  the  protection  of  the  laws  of  his 
State,  and  he  could  not  recover  for  his  injury.  The  court  said 
that  "  there  is  no  common  law  in  the  United  States,  but  there  is 
a  general  law";  and  that  seems  to  mean  that  any  particular 
case  is  judged  by  such  construction  as  any  particular  judge  may 
see  fit  to  find,  without  precedent  to  guide  him.  .  .  . 

Here  are  a  number  of  conflicting  opinions  —  one  judge  says 
it  is  right  and  one  judge  says  it  is  wrong ;  and  if  this  Commission 
cannot  come  to  the  point  where  it  feels  that  after  a  fair  examina- 
tion of  this  whole  subject  there  ought  to  be  a  national  law  de- 
nning the  liability  of  employers,  at  least  it  should  recommend 
action  such  as  is  contemplated  by  the  following  proposed  act :  — 


APPENDIX  321 

"Ax  ACT  to  secure  harmony  in  decision  of  State  and  Federal 
Courts. 

"Be  it  enacted  by  the  Senate  and  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Congress  assembled,  That 
the  decisions  of  the  courts  of  last  resort  in  the  several  States 
shall,  except  where  the  Constitution,  treaties,  or  statutes  of  the 
United  States  otherwise  require  or  provide,  be  regarded  as  rules 
of  decision  in  trials  at  common  law  in  the  courts  of  the  United 
States,  in  cases  where  such  decisions  apply,  and  no  distinction 
in  this  regard  shall  be  made  between  cases  involving  questions 
of  general  and  those  involving  questions  of  special  or  local 
law." 

It  seems  to  me  that,  as  the  time  has  come  when  almost  every 
case  involving  railway  employees  reaches  the  courts  of  the 
United  States,  Congress  can  well  enact  legislation  in  regard  to 
that  class  which  the  courts  must  follow. 

Q.  (by  MR.  PHILLIPS).  Who  suggested  that  law?  A.  I 
wrote  it. 

Q.  (by  MR.  KENNEDY).  Do  the  State  courts  accept  the  de- 
cisions of  Federal  courts  as  higher  than  their  own?  A.  No,  I 
think  not ;  but  the  Federal  court  is  presumed,  where  the  statute 
of  any  particular  State  is  in  question,  to  follow  the  statute  of 
that  State  and  the  decisions  of  the  courts,  as  far  as  applicable 
to  the  case  at  issue. 

THE  FIRST  LIABILITY  BILL 

I  have  also  here  a  Bill  which  was  introduced  at  my  request 
by  Mr.  McEttrick,  of  Boston,  in  the  Fifty-third  Congress. 
I  hardly  expected  that  any  legislation  could  there  be  accom- 
plished, but  I  believed  that  time  would  bring  the  question  to  the 
front.  The  Bill  was  prepared  with  the  greatest  care,  and  is  in 
line  with  the  English  Bill  of  1893  regarding  the  same  subject.  .  .  . 
(Mr.  Moseley  here  read  his  Employers'  Liability  Bill.) 

Q.   Have  some  States  adopted  laws  similar  to  that  proposed 


322  APPENDIX 

by  you?  A.  Yes,  indeed.  The  States,  to  a  greater  or  less 
extent,  are  doing  so.  Every  session,  I  might  say,  increases  the 
number,  and  this  is  well,  for  it  supplements  what  Congress  has 
done. 

(Mr.  Moseley  here  read  section  3  of  the  Bill  mentioned.) 

This  is  to  prevent  an  employer  from  forcing  an  employee  to 
sign  an  agreement  releasing  him  from  claim  for  damages  by 
reason  of  the  negligence  of  the  employer. 

(Mr.  Moseley  here  read  section  4  of  the  Bill  mentioned.) 

And  I  would  state  in  explanation  of  it  that  the  Baltimore 
&  Ohio  Railroad  and  other  railroads  —  the  Chicago,  Burling- 
ton &  Quincy  Railroad,  etc.  —  have  what  is  called  a  relief 
fund,  and  every  employee  was  required  to  contribute  a  certain 
amount  of  his  earnings  to  the  funds. 

Q.  Required  by  whom  ?  A.  By  the  employer,  who  also  con- 
tributes to  the  fund. 

Q.  (by  MR.  FAEQUHAR).  Is  that  contribution  on  the  part  of 
the  employees  perfectly  voluntary?  A.  Hardly,  sir;  it  was 
virtually  a  condition  of  employment.  It  is  voluntary  in  name  ; 
but  if  a  man  does  not  see  fit  to  contribute,  the  road  will  prob- 
ably find  somebody  better  fitted  to  hold  his  position  than  him- 
self. .  .  . 

Q.  (by  MR.  KENNEDY).  Are  railroad  relief  societies  con- 
sidered by  employees  as  in  some  instances  used  to  take  away 
their  allegiance  from  their  unions,  and  to  put  it  where  their 
money  is?  A.  That  is  a  matter  I  will  try  to  explain.  Before 
the  statute  was  enacted  it  became  so  onerous  to  the  men  that 
a  desire  was  expressed  to  provide  for  it  in  what  is  called  their 
Bill  —  Arbitration  Bill.  Congress  responded  to  this  and  made 
it  law  that  it  should  not  be  made  a  condition  of  employment  or 
a  condition  of  remaining  in  employment  to  contribute  to  any 
fund,  etc.,  and  since  the  passage  of  that  law,  June  1,  1898,  I 
do  not  think  that  any  railroad  has  endeavored  to  force  their 
men  hi  the  slightest  way  in  this  respect. 


APPENDIX  323 

Q.  (by  MR.  C.  J.  HARRIS).  In  view  of  the  decisions  of  the 
courts,  will  it  be  advisable  to  attempt  liability  legislation  in  this 
country  to  cover  this  whole  ground?  A.  Limited  as  to  the 
amount  recoverable  ?  You  do  not  mean  that  if  a  man  is  killed, 
whether  it  is  his  own  fault  or  not,  then  he  gets  so  much  ?  That 
is  the  case  now,  I  believe,  in  Germany. 

Q.  Is  that  class  of  legislation  being  passed  by  foreign  coun- 
tries? A.  Yes,  sir ;  particularly  in  Germany. 

Q.  What  would  be  the  effect  here  of  such  legislation? 
A.  This  is  a  question  of  such  importance  that  I  cannot  properly 
answer  it  offhand.  As  a  matter  of  present  impression,  I  believe 
it  would  not  be  fair  to  go  to  that  extent.  Let  men  understand 
they  owe  some  care  and  caution  when  engaged  in  their  work, 
not  only  to  themselves,  but  to  their  employers.  If  a  man  is 
killed  by  his  own  negligence,  purely  as  a  matter  of  risk  of  his 
employment,  he  has  been  receiving  increased  compensation, 
or  is  presumed  to  be,  for  the  hazardous  employment  he  is  engaged 
in.  But  where  an  employer  has  failed  to  put  on  an  appliance 
which  the  law  requires,  or  uses  an  unsafe  one,  or  where  the 
employer  employs  a  man  to  manage  or  direct  who  is  not  a 
proper  person  and  shows  by  his  conduct  he  is  not,  I  believe  the 
employer  should  pay. 

Again,  to  carry  the  fellow-servant  idea  to  the  extent  of  claim- 
ing that  an  Italian  laborer,  digging  along  the  railroad  track  with 
a  boss  who  says,  standing  over  him,  "Go  ahead,  what  are  you 
looking  at,"  when  he  lifts  his  head  —  to  maintain  that  he  is  a 
fellow-servant  of  an  engineer  who  comes  down  a  track  at  a  tre- 
mendous rate  of  speed  and  cuts  him  in  two,  is  not  just  from  my 
point  of  view.  He  is  kept  at  work  by  the  representative  of  the 
corporation,  who  does  not  allow  him  to  look  up  for  safety,  who 
says,  "I  am  your  eyes."  To  say  the  engineer  is  a  fellow-servant 
and  the  railroad  is  not  responsible  is  not  right. 

Q.  Are  not  the  State  courts,  as  a  rule,  becoming  more  liberal 
toward  the  employee ?  A.  Yes;  there  is  a  recent  case  in  North 


324  APPENDIX 

Carolina  where  the  judge  took  very  advanced  grounds.  A 
person  was  injured.  It  was  held,  by  reason  of  the  fact  that  the 
railroad  did  not  use  the  appliance  which  experience  had  shown 
to  be  the  best  —  safety  appliances  —  that  the  railroad  was 
liable.  This  was  the  Greenlee  Case,  decided  by  Judge  Clark 
in  May,  1898. 

THE  SAFETY-APPLIANCE  LAW 

In  1893  the  Safety- Appliance  Law  went  into  effect.  The  first 
provision  was  that  the  engineer,  on  and  after  five  years  from  the 
date  of  passage  of  the  law,  should  be  enabled  to  control  his  train 
from  the  cab ;  and  just  as  the  passenger  train  was  at  that  time 
being  controlled,  so  it  was  required  that  railroads  should  not 
run  freight  trains  which  were  not  capable  of  being  controlled  by 
the  locomotive  engineer  —  that  is,  by  the  use  of  the  air  brake 
and  train  brake;  and  that  a  necessary  proportion  of  the  cars 
should  be  equipped  to  enable  them  to  do  it.  Of  course  that 
would  vary.  On  roads  running  across  the  prairie  it  would  not 
be  necessary  to  have  so  many  cars  equipped  as  it  would  be  in  a 
mountainous  country  to  enable  an  engineer  to  control  his  train. 

This  was  the  first  provision.  The  second  provision  was 
that,  after  five  years,  no  railroad  engaged  in  interstate  commerce 
should  use  cars  which  required  men  to  go  between  them  to  couple 
them,  and  it  stopped  there;  otherwise  it  would  have  been  as 
gigantic  a  job  as  was  ever  forced  upon  anybody,  as  you  can  well 
imagine.  If  the  law  had  said  that  any  particular  device  was  to 
have  been  used,  it  would  have  cost  the  railroads  additional 
millions  in  paying  royalties,  etc.,  over  the  proper  cost  for  the 
adoption  of  an  automatic  coupler  to  have  applied  them;  and 
you  can  imagine  what  it  would  have  meant  to  have  turned  the 
railroads  over  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the  patentee;  but  it 
was  left  to  the  economies  of  railroad  transportation  and  those 
who  made  a  study  of  them  to  work  out  the  method  of  coupling 
which  would  relieve  the  men  from  the  danger  of  going  hi  between 
the  cars  to  couple  and  uncouple. 


APPENDIX  325 

What  should  be  used  to  accomplish  this  end  resulted  in  a  great 
struggle.  A  great  many  roads  were  in  favor  of  what  is  known  as 
the  Janney  type  of  coupler,  which  is  a  vertical  plane  coupler, 
and  which  had  been  adopted  by  the  Master  Car  Builders,  while 
others  advocated  the  continuance  of  the  old  type,  the  link 
and  pin,  which  was  claimed  (and  I  believe  it  is  true)  could  be 
made,  and  was  made,  automatic,  so  that  this  also  could  be  used 
without  men  going  in  between  the  cars.  Now  the  contest  came 
between  the  two  types  of  couplers,  and  it  resulted  in  the  general 
adoption  of  the  M.  C.  B.  coupler.  The  exigencies  of  railway 
operation  require  that  the  slack,  which  all  of  us  have  heard 
about,  must  be  done  away  with,  for  to  properly  work  the  air 
brake  you  must  have  a  solid  train.  Otherwise,  when  you  under- 
take to  use  an  air  brake,  each  car  becomes  a  battering-ram,  so 
to  speak.  It  is  therefore  necessary  to  make  the  train  as  solid 
as  possible. 

It  is  now  claimed  that  a  solid  train  can  be  moved  with  less 
power  than  can  one  with  slack  between  the  couplers.  So  the 
contest  went  on,  and  finally  out  of  it  the  Master  Car  Builders' 
type  of  coupler  won.  Now,  this  type  of  coupler  at  the  time  the 
law  went  into  effect  was  free  from  patents ;  anybody  could  use 
it  —  anybody  could  build  upon  that  type  of  coupler.  Of  course 
there  were  certain  claimed  improvements  on  it  upon  which  there 
were  patents,  but  the  general  type  of  the  coupler  was  free  from 
patent  rights,  and  a  road  could  go  into  the  market  and  get 
couplers  as  good  as  any  one  else  had  without  paying  a  royalty. 

Q.  (by  ME.  FARQUHAR).  Was  this  coupler  the  property  of 
the  Master  Car  Builders'  Association  and  given  to  all  the  roads 
as  a  benefit?  A.  Hardly  that.  The  first  type  was  what  was 
known  as  the  Janney  type,  but  Janney,  prior  to  the  passage  of 
this  law,  released  all  claims  he  had  to  the  patent  to  what  was 
known  as  the  contour  line,  so  that  anybody  could  make  the 
M.  C.  B.  coupler  prior  to  the  passage  of  the  law.  If  they  saw 
fit  to  use  that  style  of  coupler,  they  could  do  it  without  paying 
royalty  to  any  one. 


326  APPENDIX 

Q.  Was  this  coupler  adopted  by  the  Master  Car  Builders' 
Association?  A.  Yes;  and  it  has  worked  out  so  that  about 
75  per  cent  of  the  cars  are  now  equipped  with  the  M.  C.  B.  type 
of  coupler. 

The  next  thing  hi  the  bill  were  the  hand-holds.  Many  roads 
used  no  hand-holds  or  grab  irons  on  their  freight  cars,  though 
recommended  to  do  so  by  the  American  Railway  Association  and 
the  Master  Car  Builders'  Association ;  some  had  them  hi  one 
place  on  the  car  and  some  had  them  hi  another.  The  law  re- 
quired that  all  railroads  should  have  hand-holds  at  the  ends 
and  sides  of  the  cars.  That  was  particularly  important  during 
the  transition  period,  where  the  coupling  had  to  be  made  between 
the  old-fashioned  coupler  and  the  Master  Car  Builders'  coupler, 
and  therefore  the  switchmen  had  to  get  between  the  cars  more 
then  ever  to  couple  up. 

Then  another  provision  of  the  law  was  that  the  drawbars  of 
the  cars  should  be  of  a  maximum  or  standard  height.  Now 
Congress,  instead  of  undertaking  to  determine  itself  or  leaving 
it  to  public  officials  to  do,  left  the  railways  themselves,  through 
the  American  Railway  Association,  to  establish  and  determine 
the  height,  which  they  did.  And  31J  inches  was  fixed  to  be  the 
minimum  height  and  34J  the  maximum  height  for  drawbars  — 
3  niches  variation  being  allowed.  This  resulted  in  the  saving 
of  many  lives.  .  .  . 

A  short  tune  ago  Mr.  Francis  P.  Hopwood,  who  is  the  rail- 
way secretary  of  the  British  Board  of  Trade,  came  to  this  coun- 
try to  look  into  the  workings  of  this  law ;  and  while  there  has 
sprung  up  hi  Great  Britain  the  same  opposition  encountered 
here  (the  expense  of  the  change  in  Great  Britain,  it  is  claimed, 
would  be  about  £7,000,000,  or  $35,000,000),  I  believe  Great 
Britain  will  ultimately  follow  our  example  and  enact  a  safety- 
appliance  law. 

I  hope  no  one  will  understand  that,  from  any  remarks  of  mine, 
I  believe  the  individual  railroad  manager  is  a  hard-hearted  man 


APPENDIX  327 

—  that  he  has  not  a  due  regard  for  the  welfare  of  men  employed 
by  him.  The  railway  managers  have  as  big  hearts  and,  in  the 
main,  are  as  kind  as  anybody  else.  The  Pennsylvania  Rail- 
road raised  no  opposition  to  the  passage  of  this  law,  in  fact,  was 
friendly  to  it.  The  Chicago  &  Northwestern  and  other  rail- 
roads took  the  same  position,  while  still  others  I  could  name 
fought  the  bill  with  all  the  power  they  could. 

Q.  Has  there  been  a  decrease  of  expense  to  the  railroads  from 
the  time  of  making  this  change  ?  A.  The  loss  in  coupling  pins 
and  the  loss  in  links  and  the  breakages  which  occur  hi  draw- 
bars —  connected  with  the  old  style  of  coupler  —  is  great ;  I 
have  figures  which  show  that  it  costs  over  $2  a  year  to  main- 
tain each  car ;  whereas  it  is  found  that  the  new  type  of  coupler 
does  not  cost  50  cents  to  maintain,  and  if  that  ratio  is  carried 
out  the  result  of  this  law  is  ultimately  going  to  be  a  saving  to 
the  railroads  of  over  a  couple  of  millions  a  year  in  that  respect. 

Now,  another  thing.  It  should  be  borne  in  mind  the  absolute 
necessity  that  the  freight  locomotive  engineer  should  control 
his  train,  particularly  when  running  on  a  single  track  with 
passenger  cars  ahead  of  his  freight  tram.  The  rear-end  colli- 
sions at  times  in  the  history  of  railroads  have  been  appalling, 
largely  occasioned  by  freight  trains  running  into  the  rear  of 
passenger  trains  that  have  become  stalled;  but  with  the  use 
of  the  air  brake  the  control  of  the  freight  train  is  almost  as  com- 
plete as  the  passenger  train.  Freight  trains  can  make  a  much 
faster  time,  because  the  engineer  does  not  have  to  shut  off  steam 
miles  away  and  whistle  for  brakes.  Now  they  can  run  right  up 
to  a  station  before  shutting  off  steam.  It  is  increasing  the  facil- 
ities with  which  freight  trains  can  be  handled,  and  has  enabled 
the  railroad  management  to  meet  another  great  exigency  of 
economy  in  present  railway  management.  You  will  recall  the 
time  when  the  carload  was  20,000  or  24,000  pounds.  Trains 
are  now  being  run  where  the  capacity  of  cars  is  from  80,000  to 
100,000  pounds.  Of  course  the  railroad  employee  is  performing 


328  APPENDIX 

a  very  much  larger  service  than  he  ever  did.  His  wages  are  not 
being  reduced,  but  you  have  got  to  bear  in  mind  that  where  an 
employee  hauled  or  handled  200  tons  in  a  train,  he  can  now 
handle  600  or  800. 

INCORPORATING  UNIONS 

Now,  coming  to  the  "  associations  and  organizations  of  em- 
ployees of  railways  and  other  carriers  by  land."  Here  is  an 
act  to  legalize  incorporation  of  national  trades  unions  with  the 
right  to  appear  by  their  representatives,  and  that  is  a  thing 
which  the  workmen  of  the  United  States,  the  people  of  the 
United  States,  scarcely  realize.  It  is  hardly  known  that  there 
is  such  a  law  on  the  statute  books.  They  have  all  the  rights 
of  an  incorporation.  If  there  is  any  advantage  to  be  gained 
in  the  incorporation  of  capital,  they  have  the  same  right  to  have 
a  corporation  where  labor  is  the  fundamental  object.  .  .  . 

These  enactments  were  largely  brought  about  by  an  act  of 
injustice  by  the  receivers  of  the  Reading  Railroad,  which  was 
approved  by  a  Federal  court.  Some  time  ago  the  Reading  Rail- 
road revived  a  regulation  which  had  become  an  absolute  dead 
letter  to  the  effect  that  no  employee  should  become  a  member 
of  a  labor  organization,  and  if  he  did  he  should  be  discharged. 
The  general  manager  of  the  railroad  company  called  upon  some 
of  the  railroad  employees  to  come  to  his  office  and  told  them 
to  cease  their  membership,  and  demanded  that  they  hand 
to  him  the  charters  and  documents  belonging  to  the  lodge  in  the 
place,  and  said  he  must  carry  out  the  directions  of  the  receivers. 
"If  you  do  not  do  it,  I  shall  turn  you  off,"  said  he.  These  men 
appealed  to  their  brotherhoods,  and  particularly  to  the  Brother- 
hood of  Railroad  Trainmen.  They  were  all  interested  in  it. 
At  my  suggestion  they  came  to  Washington  to  see  Mr.  Olney, 
who  was  at  that  time  Attorney-General  of  the  United  States, 
and  consulted  with  him  about  their  rights.  The  Attorney- 
General  believed  that  they  were  wrongfully  treated,  and  said 


APPENDIX  329 

he  would  see  what  could  be  done.  He  sent  for  the  counsel  of 
the  Reading  Railroad  and  urged  him  to  rescind  the  order.  The 
counsel  said  he  would  take  it  before  the  receivers  and  would 
endeavor  to  get  them  to  do  it.  In  a  few  days  Mr.  Olney  got 
word  from  them  that  they  proposed  to  carry  out  their  rule,  that 
any  man  belonging  to  a  labor  organization  should  be  discharged. 

Q.  (by  ME.  FARQUHAR).  Was  that  the  order  of  the  receivers 
that  was  to  be  carried  out?  A.  The  order  of  the  receivers. 
Mr.  Olney  then  suggested  that  before  anything  should  be  done 
in  the  courts  they  return  and  remonstrate  individually  with 
every  receiver.  They  did  so,  but  to  no  purpose,  as  they  were 
virtually  shown  the  door.  Then  Mr.  Olney  said,  "Bring  your 
bill  in  the  court,  asking  the  courts  to  enjoin  the  receivers,"  and 
the  bill  was  brought.  It  was  decided  to  have  counsel,  and  the 
best  that  could  be  had  in  Philadelphia  and  Washington  was  ob- 
tained and  went  into  the  United  States  court  there.  The  first 
thing  the  counsel  for  the  railroad  said  was  that  this  man  Wilkin- 
son, a  representative  of  the  brotherhood  which  brought  the  suit, 
was  not  an  employee  of  this  railroad,  and  was  not  a  proper  party 
complainant.  Mr.  Wilkinson's  counsel  replied  that  if  he  di- 
vulged the  names  of  the  men  in  whose  behalf  he  was  appearing 
they  would  be  put  on  the  blacklist  and  discharged,  and  he  did 
not  want  to  offer  them  up  for  that  purpose.  Mr.  Olney  believed 
it  was  fair  that  the  bill  should  be  brought  by  Mr.  Wilkinson. 
The  court  held  that  if  they  wanted  relief  they  must  appear 
themselves,  and  dismissed  the  bill. 

The  case  was  then  brought  in  the  name  of  three  employees, 
who  were  offered  up  as  a  vicarious  sacrifice.  As  was  known, 
the  men  were  discharged,  and,  to  the  credit  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Railroad,  they  took  care  of  them.  Mr.  Olney  filed  a  state- 
ment as  "amicus  curiae."  I  commend  it  to  your  attention  as  a 
fair  presentation  of  the  right  of  men  to  organize.  And  I  want 
to  say  to  the  credit  of  the  railroad  employees,  they  went  down 
to  Harrisburg  and  got  a  law  passed  that  would  now  put  a  re- 


330  APPENDIX 

ceiver  in  jail  who  followed  this  precedent.  The  judge,  however, 
rendered  an  opinion,  though  there  were  eight  states  in  this 
Union  that  made  it  a  criminal  offense  to  deny  a  man  employ- 
ment or  refuse  to  continue  his  employment  because  he  belongs 
to  a  labor  organization,  that  these  receivers  could  use  their 
employees  as  they  saw  fit. 

f 
THE  AKBITRATION  LAW 

One  object  of  the  Arbitration  Bill  passed  June  1,  1898,  which 
applies  only  to  railroads  and  their  employees,  was  that  without 
any  surrender  apparently  of  any  ground  which  either  side  held 
—  without  any  appearance  of  giving  in  —  arbitration  could  be 
brought  about.  The  Government,  through  its  officers,  after 
endeavoring  to  settle  the  matter  by  conciliation,  steps  in  and 
says  to  the  disputants,  "This  difficulty  has  gone  far  enough,  and 
you  had  better  agree  to  arbitration."  Now,  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, the  side  that  will  not  arbitrate  will  receive  the  public 
condemnation,  for  the  public  knows  who  is  in  the  wrong;  so 
now  the  wronged  have  a  means  of  reaching  public  sentiment, 
of  enlisting  the  public  with  them,  avoiding  strikes  which  inter- 
rupt the  public  in  the  enjoyment  of  transportation  facilities, 
and  which  turn  the  public  against  the  strikers,  no  matter  if  their 
cause  is  just. 

What  has  been  the  result?  I  have  asked  every  one  of  the 
representatives  of  the  organization,  and  they  say  that  the  rela- 
tions have  never  been  so  pleasant  as  since  the  passage  of  the  law. 
It  has  been  said  to  me,  "We  do  not  want  to  invoke  the  opera- 
tion of  that  law,  and  our  employers  do  not,  and  therefore  they 
meet  us  on  common  ground  with  good  feeling,  and  while  we  have 
to  give  in  at  times,  they  also  give  in ;  but  we  meet  and  we  know 
if  we  do  not  settle  it  between  ourselves,  the  Government  will 
step  in."  Since  the  passage  of  that  law  there  has  not  been  the 
slightest  murmur,  and  it  meets  the  approval  of  every  railroad 
man  I  have  met.  There  are  some  who  predict  that  there  will 


APPENDIX  331 

not  be  any  more  strikes.    We  really  believe  it  is  the  era  of  good 
feeling. 

ACCIDENT  REPORTS 

Now,  another  matter.  If  not  a  sparrow  falls  to  the  ground 
without  Divine  knowledge,  why  should  American  citizens,  our 
people,  be  maimed  and  killed  and  no  record  of  the  circumstance 
attending  the  casualty  kept?  I  believe  there  should  be  a  re- 
quirement in  case  of  a  collision,  or  where  persons  or  employees 
are  killed  or  injured  upon  the  railroads,  that  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  should  be  notified  of  it  at  the  time  it  occurs. 
It  would  do  very  much  to  decrease  the  number  of  accidents  upon 
our  railroads.  When  you  open  the  light  of  day  upon  such  things, 
and  give  the  public  an  opportunity  of  ascertaining  the  cause  of 
injury  to  a  man,  either  a  passenger  or  an  employee,  you  will  find 
that  eventually  the  number  of  killed  and  injured  will  be  de- 
creased. 

Q.  Have  the  railway  commissioners  of  some  of  the  States  the 
right  to  do  that  ?  A .  Quite  a  number  of  them  have.  Under 
their  State  laws  they  have  the  opportunity  to  investigate  these 
facts.  Many  of  our  states  have  railway  commissioners,  while 
others  of  them  pay  no  attention  to  the  matter.  The  National 
Government  statistics  furnished  by  the  roads  also  require 
revised  classification.  For  instance,  a  man  is  hurt;  he  is  re- 
ported as  injured  in  coupling  cars,  when  the  real  fact  is  he  is 
running  down  a  track  and  tumbles  over  a  tie  and  falls  down  and 
gets  hurt.  He  is  reported  as  injured  in  coupling  cars  simply 
because  he  is  engaged  in  that  occupation.  The  means  are  not 
at  hand  to  ascertain  the  actual  facts.  The  commission  has  no 
means  of  learning  the  real  cause  of  the  injury. 

Q.  Could  the  Interstate  Commerce  Law  be  amended  to  reach 
such  a  case  as  that?  A.  I  do  not  think  there  is  the  slightest 
doubt  of  it.  I  have  a  bill  amending  the  Act  to  promote  the 
safety  of  employees,  etc.,  which  covers  this  point,  I  think.  It 
is  as  follows.  , 


332  APPENDIX 

Q.  Would  such  reports  to  the  Commission  open  the  doors  a 
good  deal  to  suits  for  damages  ?  A.I  should  not  want  to  have 
the  facts  used  in  that  way ;  none  of  these  reports  should  be  used 
in  any  damage  suits,  and  it  might  be  provided  in  the  act  that 
they  should  not  be. 

The  intent  is  to  call  the  attention  of  the  public  to  accidents 
upon  the  roads.  Of  course  to-day  every  accident  is  supposed 
to  be  annually  reported  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion, and  they  have  authority  to  ask  for  it.  They  may  not  have 
authority  to  ask  for  a  monthly  report.  They  can  ask  for  annual 
reports,  but  that  hardly  gets  at  it.  Reports  at  the  time  of  the 
accident  are  what  are  desired. 

Another  thing,  right  here,  almost  under  the  shadow  of  the 
dome  of  the  Capitol,  men  have  been  killed  within  the  last  few 
years  by  having  their  feet  caught  in  frogs,  and  there  they  have 
been  held  as  in  a  vise,  and  the  train  backs  down  on  them  and  kills 
them.  I  now  recall  a  case.  It  was  a  particularly  distressing 
case.  This  poor  fellow  had  a  wife  and  a  number  of  children. 
When  he  was  killed,  for  a  few  hours  everybody  would  tell  you 
all  about  it.  I  followed  the  thing  up.  A  dozen  hours  had  not 
gone  by  before  nobody  knew  anything  about  it  at  all ;  even  his 
wife  did  not.  She  said :  "I  do  not  dare  say  anything  about  it, 
because  my  brother-in-law  is  employed  on  the  railroad,  and  if 
I  say  anything  about  it,  he  will  get  his  discharge/' 

I  also  have  another  bill  to  which  I  would  call  the  attention 
of  this  Commission: 

"AN  ACT  to  promote  the  safety  of  employees  upon  railroads 
by  compelling  persons,  firms,  companies,  and  corporations 
operating  railroads  to  equip  their  cars  and  locomotives  with 
automatic  couplers,  continuous  brakes,  and  grab  irons; 
their  locomotives  with  driving-wheel  brakes;  to  provide 
a  standard  height  for  drawbars  for  freight  cars  and  engines ; 
and  to  adjust,  fill,  or  block  all  frogs,  switches,  guard  rails, 
and  all  other  obstructions  which  are  a  part  of,  or  are  near, 


APPENDIX  333 

their  tracks  as  to  prevent  the  feet  of  employees  from  being 
caught  therein." 

OTHER  PROBLEMS 
(Mr.  Moseley's  testimony  was  continued  on  December  7.) 

MR.  MOSELEY.  With  some  care  I  prepared  the  statement 
which  I  handed  you  yesterday,  "Authorities  upon  the  law 
of  damages  caused  from  injuries  received  (1)  by  negligence  of 
a  fellow-servant,  and  (2)  by  defective  appliances,"  which  I 
again  desire  to  call  your  attention  to,  as  it  affects  railroad  em- 
ployees, because  almost  all  their  cases  sooner  or  later  get  into 
the  Federal  court  —  the  State  courts  have  little  to  do  with  the 
suits  of  railroad  employees  for  damages  for  negligence  on  the 
part  of  the  employers. 

Q.  Do  you  think  that  a  fellow-servant  could  be  defined  hi 
a  general  law?  A.  I  do  not  think  there  is  any  trouble  in  de- 
fining what  a  fellow-servant  is.  Many  of  the  States  are  un- 
dertaking to  define  it.  As  I  said  yesterday,  the  railroad  em- 
ployees of  the  country  are  engaged  in  a  semi-public  employment 
—  in  a  national  work ;  if  they  obtain  any  redress  at  all,  they 
must  obtain  it  through  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  I 
have  not  gone  into  the  field  of  the  ordinary  industrial  pursuits 
or  the  relation  between  an  employer  and  employee  in  siich  in- 
dustrial pursuits,  because  I  believe  these  matters  are  very  largely 
under  State  control  and  ones  which  the  people  of  each  State 
should  settle  for  themselves,  as  far  as  the  relations  between 
one  citizen  and  another  of  that  particular  locality  are  concerned. 

But  when  we  come  to  the  railroad  employee,  the  case  is  dif- 
ferent, for  there  is  hardly  a  railroad  in  the  United  States  that  the 
courts  have  not  held  by  their  rulings  is  engaged  in  interstate 
commerce  and  therefore  under  National  control,  and  where  any 
difficulty  occurs  between  employer  and  employee  the  Federal 
courts  are  the  ones  that  are  resorted  to,  that  they  may  put 
the  strong  arm  of  the  Federal  power  into  the  scales.  Also  where- 


334  APPENDIX 

ever  a  case  occurs  of  damage  by  accidents  or  any  cause,  it  is 
almost  sure  to  reach  the  Federal  courts.  Therefore  I  believe 
these  are  matters  which,  if  Congress  itself  does  not  deal  with  and 
does  not  bring  about  uniformity  in  by  legislation,  —  why  de- 
cisions are  as  varying  as  are  the  ideas  of  the  several  judges,  — 
judge-made  law  will  continue  to  largely  govern  the  determina- 
tion of  all  these  cases.  .  .  . 

THE  PUBLIC  AND  THE  ROADS 

In  regard  to  the  relations  of  railroads  to  the  public,  it  is 
almost  sufficient  to  say  that  the  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion has  been  for  nearly  twelve  years  asking  Congress  for  legis- 
lation which  its  experience  hi  administering  the  Act  to  regulate 
commerce  has  shown  to  be  indispensable  to  effective  regulation 
in  the  public  interest.  As  Secretary  of  the  Commission,  I  have 
no  other  views  on  this  subject  than  those  which  have  been  ex- 
pressed by  the  Commission  itself  in  its  reports  to  Congress. 
Each  of  those  reports  constitutes  the  record  of  a  year  devoted 
to  the  work  of  regulation.  The  Chairman  and  other  members 
of  the  Commission  wish  me  to  say  that  they  will  be  glad  to  give 
you  the  benefit  of  their  views  as  to  any  of  these  matters  at  any 
time.  One  or  two  of  the  conditions  now  prevailing  will,  how- 
ever, doubtless  interest  you  at  this  time,  and  I  will  mention 
them  briefly. 

The  Act  to  regulate  commerce  requires  that  all  rates  shall  be 
reasonable  and  just.  It  also  provides  that  the  Commission  shall 
execute  and  enforce  its  provisions.  For  fully  ten  years  the 
Commission  proceeded  upon  the  idea  that  its  duty  to  execute 
and  enforce  the  law  involved  the  issuance  of  orders  to  carriers 
not  to  exceed  the  rate  shown  to  be  reasonable  or  just  after  com- 
plaint, hearing,  and  investigation.  In  1897  the  Supreme  Court 
said  that  this  view  was  wrong ;  that  the  Commission  was  not 
authorized  to  prescribe  rates  for  future  observance  by  the  car- 
riers, and  that  the  Commission  could  only  condemn  the  rate 


APPENDIX  335 

complained  of,  and  incidentally  award  reparation.  (The  Freight 
Bureau  Cases,  167  U.  S.,  479.) 

Condemning  the  present  rate  and  awarding  reparation  is 
theoretically  the  remedy  at  common  law,  though  as  a  matter  of 
practice  no  one  ever  recovered  a  cent  from  a  carrier  for  charg- 
ing an  unreasonable  rate.  In  other  words,  the  common  law  did 
not  and  does  not  afford  a  remedy.  But  beyond  that,  merely  pro- 
ceeding to  recover  excessive  charges  is  no  remedy.  First,  because 
the  expense  always  involved  in  litigation  must  generally,  of  itself, 
deter  the  institution  of  such  a  proceeding.  Second,  because 
the  person  entitled  to  reparation  is  generally  not  the  person  who 
is  injured.  The  rate,  however  excessive,  is  supposed  to  be 
published,  and  the  goods  have  been  bought  and  sold  on  the  basis 
of  that  rate.  Obviously,  the  persons  most  likely  to  suffer  injury 
are  the  producer  and  consumer,  and  sometimes  the  retailer, 
not  the  middleman  or  jobber,  who  is  most  frequently  the  shipper, 
and  therefore  the  one  who  might  be  held  entitled  to  recover  the 
excess  charge. 

Q.  (by  MB.  C.  J.  HARRIS).  If  parties  do  not  obey  decisions 
of  the  Commission,  are  they  obliged  to  do  so  or  not  ?  A.  Yes, 
sir;  the  carriers  do  very  often  comply  with  the  orders  of  the 
Commission.  But  they  will  nqt  if  they  consider  that  anything 
vital  is  involved.  Of  course  the  Commission  may  bring  suit 
in  court  to  compel  obedience  to  its  order.  The  average  time 
consumed  in  reaching  final  adjudication  in  such  cases  by  the 
Supreme  Court  has  been  about  four  years.  This  practically 
denies  the  relief  that  obedience  to  the  order  might  afford,  and, 
in  fact,  enables  the  carrier  to  snap  its  fingers  at  the  rulings  of 
the  Commission.  Now,  if  the  Commission  were  empowered, 
after  hearing  an  investigation  in  particular  cases,  to  fix  the 
maximum  reasonable  and  just  rate,  and  if  the  law  also  provided 
that  the  order  of  the  Commission  should  become  effective  unless 
the  carrier  shows  it  to  be  unlawful  upon  application  to  the  court 
for  review,  the  result  would  be  that  relief  would  be  granted  as 


336  APPENDIX 

to  all  future  shipments  to  the  producer,  to  the  consumer,  to  the 
retailer,  and  to  all  parties  interested ;  and  such  relief  would  be 
summarily  enforced  unless  the  carrier  could  promptly  show 
material  error  in  the  decision  of  the  Commission. 

A  decision  finding  that  the  rate  on  flour  from  Minneapolis 
to  Boston  is  ten  cents  too  high  and  an  order  not  to  charge,  say, 
more  than  twenty  cents  for  that  service,  would  benefit  the 
Western  miller  and  the  New  England  consumer,  as  well  as  all  in- 
termediate handlers  of  that  commodity.  If  you  can  say  what  the 
rate  is  to  be,  you  benefit  all  who  are  commercially  interested. 
If  you  can  merely  say  the  present  rate  in  a  particular  case  is 
wrong,  you  benefit  only  the  man  who  has  paid  that  rate  in  the 
case  in  question.  As  the  law  now  stands,  the  Commission  can- 
not order  carriers  to  observe  the  rates  which  it  finds,  on  investi- 
gation, to  be  actually  reasonable  —  sufficient  for  the  service 
rendered  —  and  those  orders  which  it  does  issue  are  practically 
non-enforceable  because  of  inevitable  long  delay  in  the  courts 
under  the  present  procedure. 

When  the  Act  was  passed,  it  was  supposed  that  the  Commission 
had  full  power  to  correct  the  tariff  rates,  and  that  its  orders, 
except  on  plain  showing  of  material  error  by  the  Commission, 
would  be  summarily  enforced  by  the  courts.  The  Commission 
cannot  determine  and  order  the  proper  rate,  and  when  it  asks 
the  court  to  enforce  any  order  that  it  makes,  the  case  must  be 
tried  de  novo,  and,  as  before  stated,  the  average  time  consumed 
in  the  courts  has  been  about  four  years.  Another  present  con- 
dition is  shown  in  case  under  the  tenth,  or  penal,  section  of  the 
law.  If  the  published  rate  from  Washington  to  New  York  is 
$6.50  and  the  road  carries  a  man  for  $3,  the  company's  agent 
cannot  be  convicted  of  unjust  discrimination  unless  it  be  shown 
that  somebody  paid  the  $6.50  rate.  And  so  it  is  with  freight. 
The  published  rate  may  be  so  high  that  a  shipper  cannot  use 
it,  but  at  the  same  time  the  railway  agent  may  give  a  favored 
large  shipper  a  much  lower  rate,  and  he  will,  in  consequence, 
gradually  secure  a  monopoly  of  the  business. 


APPENDIX  337 

Q.  (by  MB.  PHILLIPS).  Would  that  result  in  small  shippers 
not  being  able  to  ship  at  all  ?  A.  Precisely  so.  We  have  had 
plenty  of  such  cases,  but  the  courts  will  not  hold  it  to  be  unjust 
discrimination  unless  some  one,  by  actually  paying  a  higher  rate, 
is  shown  to  have  been  wronged.  In  one  case  nearly  $12,000 
were  expended  in  proof  hi  a  case  against  the  former  receiver 
and  president  of  the  Santa  Fe  road.  It  appeared  that  some 
million  of  dollars  had  been  paid  out  by  that  road  in  rebates,  and 
that  large  amounts  were  paid  to  shippers  of  cattle.  But  it  was 
not  practicable  to  prove  who  was  injured.  Those  who  actually 
shipped  had  a  monopoly  of  the  trade. 

THE  TRUSTS 

No  one  thing  has  operated  to  the  advantage  of  the  large 
shipper  —  the  trust  —  or  to  the  detriment  of  the  small  shipper 
—  the  individual  manufacturer  or  dealer  —  so  much  as  this 
vicious  railway  practice  of  allowing  rebates  from  tariff  rates 
to  large  customers.  Indeed,  it  has  been  said  that  without 
railway  favors  the  industrial  combination  could  not  exist. 
Whether  that  statement  is  accurate  or  not,  it  is  acknowledged  by 
all  who  have  given  thought  to  the  matter  that  cutting  off  this 
railway  rebate  advantage  would  most  seriously  cripple  those 
great  foes  to  individual  enterprise. 

The  tendency  of  trusts  is  to  lessen  the  number  of  employers,  of 
establishments,  and  employees,  and  this  to  my  mind  is  the  alarm- 
ing feature  about  them. 

When  establishments  are  many  and  a  man  who  has  spent  his 
best  energies,  the  efforts  of  the  best  years  of  his  life,  in  acquiring 
a  trade,  finds  himself  differing  with  his  employer  as  to  hours  of 
labor,  conditions  of  service,  or  wages,  he  loses  no  whit  of  his  man- 
hood, no  particle  of  his  independence,  for  the  reason  that,  if 
the  differences  are  irreconcilable,  the  workman  can  lay  down 
his  tools  and  seek  another  situation. 

But  when  the  trust  absorbs  the  scattered  establishments  into 


338  APPENDIX 

one  organization,  closes  the  more  expensive  and  less  profitable, 
and  concentrates  the  production  into  a  few  favored  localities, 
the  workman  is  in  danger  of  losing  his  identity  as  a  man, 
sinking  into  the  dependent  condition  of  a  part  of  the  machinery 
of  the  institution.  He  becomes  in  a  measure  helpless,  for  an 
individual  difference  now  with  his  employer  means  a  loss  of  his 
means  of  livelihood  —  a  shutting  of  the  only  door  of  opportunity 
to  work  at  his  chosen  vocation.  The  responsibilities  of  family 
cares,  which  should  add  dignity  and  nerve  to  the  man,  are  only 
weakness  and  a  burden  to  the  machine  and  make  cowards  of 
brave  men  for  very  love's  sake.  He  dare  not  risk  their  lives 
and  happiness  by  so  much  as  a  feeble  protest  at  the  wrong 
against  which  his  manhood  revolts,  in  fear  that,  losing  his  one 
chance  of  employment,  he  must  start  life  anew  or  enter  the  ranks 
of  the  day  laborer,  already  overcrowded  and  underpaid. 

There  is  but  one  way  which  suggests  itself  to  me  by  which 
labor  may  combat  the  evil  of  the  trust,  and  that  is  far  from 
being  entirely  effective.  It  is  by  thorough  organization. 
This  will  not  control  —  indeed,  should  not  interfere  with  — 
the  management  or  financial  success  of  the  institution.  It  will 
not  always  save  the  reduction  of  establishments  and  employees. 
But  it  will  have  the  effect  of  preserving  his  identity  and  man- 
hood ;  will  give  him  the  courage  that  is  always  born  of  numbers  ; 
secure  an  audience,  the  whole  public,  if  necessary,  for  the  rela- 
tion of  his  wrongs ;  insure  him,  as  an  integral  part  of  the  ma- 
chinery, the  wholesome  respect  of  the  administration  of  the 
establishment. 

With  all  his  fellow-craftsmen  behind  him,  his  situation  be- 
comes infinitely  improved,  not  only  socially,  but  in  the  public 
eye.  His  pleas  and  demands  receive  consideration,  when  de- 
livered through  the  megaphone  of  his  order,  whether  hi  the 
shop,  in  legislative  halls,  or  in  the  courts,  to  say  nothing  of  the 
beneficiary  effects  of  such  organization  in  substantial  relief  as 
well  as  social  sentiment.  Every  encouragement  should  be 


APPENDIX  339 

given  to  organization;  every  trade  should  be  organized;  and 
when  the  wage  earners  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder,  the  trust 
must  still  be  feared,  but  its  evils  will  have  been  mitigated  so  far 
as  labor  can  accomplish  such  a  result.  .  .  . 

ATTITUDE  OF  RAILROAD  MANAGER 

There  are  no  more  progressive  men  in  any  walk  in  life  than  the 
managers  of  railways,  and  to  say  that  they  are  other  than  fair 
and  considerate  would  not  be  just ;  indeed,  it  is  difficult  to  find 
among  them  individuals  who  are  not  all  that  any  one  has  a  right 
to  expect  so  far  as  the  treatment  of  their  employees  is  concerned. 
Many  of  them  have  sprung  from  the  ranks.  One  speaks  of  the 
railway  corporation,  but  he  speaks  of  it  collectively.  It  must 
be  understood  that  the  railways  have  done  a  great  deal  in  the 
interest  of  their  men,  as  their  railway  hospitals,  their  relief  as- 
sociations, their  work  under  the  auspices  of  the  railway  branch 
of  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association,  and  many  other 
agencies  for  good  will  testify.  No  remarks  that  I  have  here 
made  are  made  with  any  view  of  disparaging,  in  the  least  degree, 
the  managers  of  railways,  for  whom  I  have  the  greatest  respect, 
but  it  is  to  state  conditions  as  they  exist  as  fairly  as  I  can. 

Great  credit  is  due  and  should  be  accorded  the  American  Rail- 
way Association  and  the  Master  Car  Builders'  Association,  both 
of  which  had  established  such  rules  as  to  safety  appliances  and 
regulations  as  would,  if  they  had  been  carried  out  by  every  rail- 
road, have  made  legislation  unnecessary.  It  was  from  the  very 
fact  that  their  recommendations  were  being  lived  up  to  by  some 
roads  and  not  by  others  that  the  chaotic  condition  existed  which 
required  the  law  to  unravel  and  correct.  Both  of  these  associa- 
tions have  done  a  great  deal  for  the  railway  employees  as  well 
as  having  been  of  great  advantage  in  devising  means  looking 
to  economy  in  railway  operation.  There  is  no  class  of  men  in 
the  country  more  ready  to  respond  to  the  calls  of  humanity  and 
of  justice  than  are  those  who  operate  railroads. 


340  APPENDIX 

But  in  the  matter  of  railway  regulation,  it  is  difficult  for  some 
railway  managers  to  believe  that  business  methods  which  are 
in  use  in  every  line  of  business  should,  if  adopted  and  pursued 
in  the  operation  of  railways,  be  made  criminal  violations  of  law. 
The  railway  manager  in  the  past  has  believed  that  his  first 
duty  was  to  the  stockholders  and  investors  in  his  property,  and 
he  neither  relishes  not  admits  the  right  of  interference  in  what 
was  so  long  a  private  institution  that  he  has  forgotten  in  a 
measure  his  own  official  character  and  the  rights  of  the  public 
in  an  enterprise  which  the  people  have  chartered  by  their  votes, 
have  given  their  lands  for  the  right  of  way,  have  granted  the 
supreme  weapon  of  eminent  domain  to  coerce  unwilling  in- 
dividuals, have  given  millions  of  acres  and  billions  of  dollars 
to  establish,  and  which  in  the  opinion  of  many  people,  intelligent 
and  otherwise,  the  people  should  themselves  own.  If  open  to 
criticism  on  any  point,  it  is  not  a  lack  of  humanity  to  their  men, 
not  in  the  intelligent  management  of  the  stupendous  business 
under  their  control,  not  in  the  liberal  and  progressive  spirit 
in  which  they  have  carried  that  management  to  the  front  rank 
in  the  world's  system  for  safety,  speed,  comfort,  and  luxuries 
of  transportation,  —  but  in  an  impatience  of  restraint,  a  resent- 
ment against  suggestions  from  without,  a  failure  to  see  good 
in  the  law,  or  good  will  in  those  called  on  to  enforce  it,  though 
of  both  there  are  abundant  evidences  that  only  the  willfully 
blind  can  fail  to  see. 

A  REVIEW 

When  I  first  came  to  Washington,  I  early  recognized  the  ad- 
vantage of  location  and  opportunity,  in  the  matter  of  furthering 
legislation  in  the  interest  of  the  wage  worker,  particularly  of 
the  employees  of  railways,  now  some  874,000  in  number,  the 
public  character  of  whose  employment  secures  them  greater 
attention  and  consideration,  at  the  hands  of  Congress,  than  the 
average  breadwinners  in  other  vocations. 


APPENDIX  341 

To  assist  as  far  as  was  in  my  power  in  this  regard,  I  deemed  my 
duty,  found  in  that  effort  the  keenest  pleasure,  and  it  is  with 
no  little  pride  that  looking  backward  over  that  twelve  years  the 
boast  is  mine  that  nothing  was  left  undone  on  my  part  to  help 
the  cause  as  I  saw  the  situation  then  or  recall  it  now. 

You  will  therefore  understand  with  what  satisfaction  I  have 
hailed  the  creation  of  this  Commission,  which,  though  it  secures 
not  a  line  of  legislation  directly,  will  have  performed  a  great 
work  of  education  and  reform  by  its  exhaustive  investigation. 
It  is  the  forum  for  the  presentation  of  those  questions  which 
vitally  affect  the  life  of  the  nation,  questions  of  vastly  more  im- 
portance than  those  connected  with  our  foreign  relations,  and 
upon  the  proper  settlement  of  which  the  stability  of  our  Govern- 
ment depends. 

In  these  years  of  effort  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition 
of  labor  and  of  intimate  intercourse  with  the  officers  of  their 
associations  who  so  ably  represent  them,  I  have  been  more  and 
more  impressed  with  the  high  character  of  both. 

The  representatives  of  the  railway  employees  who  have  been 
sent  here  to  ask  for  legislation  in  their  behalf  command  respect 
and  win  regard,  and  with  those  who  do  the  no  less  important 
local  work  are  imbued  with  a  sense  of  responsibility  not  only 
to  the  men  they  serve,  but  the  country  at  large.  They  are  con- 
servative, law-abiding  men,  and  they  have  neither  asked  nor 
advocated  any  legislation  which  cannot  be  justified  upon  the 
ground  of  right,  or  defended  from  the  vantage  ground  of  hu- 
manity and  a  higher  civilization. 

I  have  memoranda  of  the  bills  I  have  suggested  as  follows :  — • 

"An  Act  for  the  protection  of  railroad  employees  by  requiring 
railroads  to  block  their  frogs,  switches,  guard  rails,  etc." 
v  "An  Act  to  secure  harmony  in  decisions  of  State  and  Federal 
courts  to  overcome  the  injustice  to  employees  occasioned  by 
decisions  of  the  character  of  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  against 
Baugh." 


342  APPENDIX 

"An  Act  relating  to  the  liability  of  employers  engaged  in  in- 
terstate and  foreign  commerce  for  injuries  to  their  employees, 
to  bring  the  United  States  in  this  respect  as  near  as  may  be  to 
the  laws  of  Great  Britain  in  regard  to  employ ers'  liability." 

"An  Act  to  promote  the  safety  of  employees  and  travelers 
by  requiring  carriers  to  report  all  collisions  and  accidents  which 
may  occur  upon  railroads  engaged  in  interstate  commerce  with 
the  causes  and  circumstances  comnnected  therewith  limited  to 
certain  classes  of  accidents."  This  is  in  line  with  the  laws  of 
Great  Britain. 

RAILROAD  ACCIDENTS  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

By  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY.  (In  the  Review  of  Reviews,  Novem- 
ber, 1904.) 

A  glance  at  the  published  statistics  is  sufficient  to  show  that 
there  has  been  a  considerable  increase  in  the  number  of  railroad 
accidents  since  1902,  but  a  mere  comparison  of  totals  is  of  little 
or  no  value.  What  is  wanted  is  a  statement  of  causes  and  some 
practicable  suggestions  concerning  remedies.  The  chief  object 
for  which  accident  statistics  are  gathered  is  the  improvement  of 
conditions,  —  the  indication  of  such  remedial  measures  as  will 
add  to  the  safety  of  life  and  limb.  It  may  be  a  matter  of  in- 
terest to  the  statistician  to  know  that  the  total  of  certain  classes 
of  accidents  is  greater  or  less  now  than  formerly,  but  such  infor- 
mation possesses  little  interest  for  the  general  public.  What  the 
public  wants  to  know  is  why  railroad  accidents  are  increasing, 
and  it  has  become  apparent  to  the  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission that  the  great  thing  to  be  accomplished  by  its  statistics 
is  that  they  shall  indicate  that  "  why  "  with  sufficient  clearness 
to  suggest  a  remedy. 

On  March  3,  1901,  the  President  approved  an  act  which 
makes  it  "the  duty  of  the  general  manager,  superintendent,  or 
other  proper  officer  of  every  common  carrier  engaged  in  inter- 


APPENDIX  343 

state  commerce  by  railroad  to  make  to  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  at  its  office  in  Washington,  D.C.,  a  monthly 
report,  under  oath,  of  all  collisions  of  trains,  or  where  any  train 
or  part  of  a  train  accidentally  leaves  the  track,  and  of  all  acci- 
dents which  may  occur  to  its  passengers,  or  to  its  employees 
while  in  the  service  of  such  common  carrier  and  actually  on 
duty,  which  report  shall  state  the  nature  and  causes  thereof, 
and  the  circumstances  comnnected  therewith." 

Publication  of  the  causes  of  railway  accidents,  as  reported 
by  the  railroad  companies  themselves,  places  the  salient  facts 
pertaining  to  them  before  the  people  and  affords  a  basis  for 
intelligent  action  in  the  introduction  of  remedies,  which  will 
safeguard  the  life  and  limbs  of  travelers  and  employees  upon 
railroads.  The  commission  therefore  publishes  quarterly  bul- 
letins based  upon  these  monthly  reports.  In  these  bulletins 
the  total  number  of  accidents  reported  in  each  quarter  is  given. 
The  accidents  are  separated  into  classes,  and  the  causes  of  the 
most  prominent  train  accidents  reported  are  given.  Twelve 
of  these  quarterly  bulletins,  covering  the  years  ending  June  30, 
1902,  1903,  and  1904,  have  already  been  published.  The  classi- 
fication adopted  and  the  total  of  accidents  reported  for  the  three 
years  above  mentioned  are  shown  in  the  chart. 

There  are  certain  accidents  which  occur  with  more  or  less 
regularity  and  frequency  on  railroads  that  may  be  properly 
called  unavoidable.  Such  are  accidents  due  to  exceptional 
elemental  disturbances,  entirely  unexpected  landslides  or  wash- 
outs, want  of  ordinary  precaution  on  the  part  of  passengers  or 
employees,  malicious  tampering  with  railway  or  equipment, 
broken  rails,  etc.  Such  accidents  may  be  accepted  as  among 
the  ordinary  hazards  of  railroading  and  be  dismissed  from  our 
reckoning.  We  deplore  the  casualties  which  accompany  such 
accidents,  just  as  we  deplore  the  loss  of  life  that  accompanies 
the  destruction  of  a  ship  in  a  great  storm  at  sea,  but  in  the  one 
case  as  in  the  other  we  know  that  no  human  foresight  could  have 
prevented  the  casualty. 


344 


APPENDIX 


There  are  casualties,  however,  which  are  fairly  preventable, 
and  against  the  occurrence  of  which  travelers  and  employees 
upon  railroads  have  a  right  to  demand  protection.  When  we 
are  told,  therefore,  that  the  deaths  in  railroad  accidents  in- 
creased from  2819  in  1902,  to  3554  in  1903,  and  3787  in  1904, 
and  that  the  injuries  increased  from  39,800  in  1902  to  45,977  in 
1903,  and  51,343  in  1904,  it  is  important  for  us  to  know  whether 
the  increase  was  due  to  preventable  or  unpreventable  causes. 

Roughly  speaking,  then,  and  considering  passengers  only, 
we  may  say  that  the  train  accidents  represent  the  preventable 
class,  while  the  other  accidents,  such'  as  "coming  in  contact 
with  overhead  bridges,  structures  at  the  side  of  track/'  etc., 
"falling  from  cars  or  engines,  or  while  getting  on  or  off,"  and 
"other  causes"  represent  the  unavoidable  accidents.  They  are 
generally  due  to  negligence  on  the  part  of  the  victims  themselves. 
This  separation  will  enable  us  to  construct  the  following  table : — 


PBS  VENT  ABLE 
ACCIDENTS 

UNPREVENTABLE 
ACCIDENTS 

Passengers 
Killed 

Passengers 
Injured 

Passengers 
Killed 

Passengers 
Injured 

1902    

167 
164 
270 

3,586 
4,424 
4,945 

136 
157 
150 

2,503 
2,549 
3,132 

1903    

1904    

This  table  shows  that  the  greatest  increase  in  the  deaths  and 
injuries  to  passengers  during  the  past  three  years  has  been  in 
the  preventable  class.  An  examination  of  individual  cases,  as 
reported  in  the  quarterly  bulletins,  will  disclose  causes  and  help 
to  indicate  remedies. 

THE  HUMAN  ELEMENT  IN  THE  PROBLEM 

Take  item  2  in  Bulletin  No.  7,  for  the  quarter  ending  March 
31,  1903.  This  is  a  rear  collision  in  which  seven  persons  were 


APPENDIX  345 

killed  and  seven  injured.  "A  passenger  train  ran  into  a  freight 
train;  personal  injuries  aggravated  by  fire  in  stoves  in  cars. 
A  brakeman  neglected  to  flag  passenger  train ;  had  been  a  train 
brakeman  16  months."  In  this  case  it  is  apparent  that  the 
whole  question  of  safety  depended  upon  one  man,  —  the 
brakeman  who  neglected  to  flag.  It  would  seem  that  a  prop- 
erly operated  block  system  would  have  been  an  added  safeguard, 
and  in  all  probability  would  have  prevented  the  accident. 

Item  8  is  a  rear  collision  resulting  in  four  deaths  and  three 
injuries,  which  occurred  in  spite  of  the  block  system,  and 
illustrates  how  greatly  the  safety  of  trains  is  dependent  upon 
the  vigilance  and  strict  attention  to  duty  of  employees,  even 
where  the  most  approved  safety  devices  are  employed.  "  Oc- 
curred 4  A.M.  ;  passenger  train  ran  into  two  locomotives 
coupled  together ;  clear  block  signal  wrongfully  given.  Signal 
man's  attention  being  momentarily  withdrawn  from  his  signal 
levers,  a  messenger  boy,  without  authority,  cleared  the  signal. 
Signal  man's  age,  19  years,  10  months."  This  operator  was 
young,  and  obviously  of  little  experience.  He  undoubtedly 
disobeyed  the  rules  of  the  company  in  allowing  an  unauthorized 
person  to  enter  the  tower  and  have  access  to  the  signal  levers. 

Item  15  is  a  rear  collision  between  passenger  trains,  resulting 
in  twenty-three  deaths  and  eighty-five  injuries,  which  also 
occurred  in  spite  of  the  block  system,  and  is  a  further  illustra- 
tion of  how  completely  the  lives  of  passengers  are  in  the  hands 
of  employees.  "  Collisions  on  long  tangent ;  night ;  engineman 
running  very  fast,  disregarded  distant  and  home  block  signals, 
also  three  red  lanterns  at  different  points.  This  engineman  was 
killed.  His  eyesight  was  perfect  one  year  before  the  accident. 
The  road  has  no  periodical  examination  or  test  of  enginemen." 

The  engineer  had  had  ample  experience,  and  his  record  was 
good.  There  is  no  explanation  of  his  neglect  to  obey  the  signals 
except  an  unconfirmed  newspaper  statement  that  before  he 
died  he  said  that  his  attention  had  been  drawn  away  from  the 


346  APPENDIX 

signals  by  some  trouble  with  an  injector.  The  fireman  was 
not  held  in  any  way  responsible,  as  his  duty  was  at  his  fire, 
which  required  his  entire  attention. 

A  THIRD  MAN  ON  THE  ENGINE 

To  permit  his  attention  to  be  distracted  by  any  trouble  with 
an  injector  under  such  circumstances  was  certainly  inexcusable 
on  the  part  of  the  engineer ;  but  whether  this  be  the  true  ex- 
planation or  not,  the  fact  remains  that  some  unusual  circum- 
stance caused  a  momentarily  fatal  lapse  on  his  part.  The  cir- 
cumstances in  this  case  add  weight  to  the  argument,  which  has 
been  extensively  agitated  of  late  years,  for  three  men  on  these 
modern  high-speed  locomotives.  Many  of  these  engines  are  so 
constructed  that  it  is  a  matter  of  extreme  difficulty  for  the  fire- 
man and  the  engineer  to  communicate  with  each  other  while  the 
engine  is  running.  The  fireman  is  also  compelled  to  devote  his 
entire  attention  to  his  fire,  and  must  be  constantly  on  the  alert 
in  order  to  keep  steam  up  to  the  required  pressure.  He  has 
no  time  to  watch  the  signals,  nor  can  he  note  the  actions  of  the 
engineer,  and  under  such  conditions  an  engineer  might  drop 
dead  or  meet  with  an  accident  that  would  disable  him  for  the 
performance  of  his  duties  without  the  fireman  knowing  anything 
about  it.  In  such  a  case  the  train  could  easily  go  to  destruction 
before  the  fireman  had  had  an  opportunity  to  prevent  it. 
With  a  third  man  on  the  engine,  however,  whose  duty  it  would 
be  to  assist  the  engineer  and  keep  a  lookout  for  signals,  this 
danger  would  be  averted.  It  is  fair  to  assume  that  had  there 
been  a  third  man  in  the  engine  in  this  case  under  discussion,  this 
terrible  accident  would  not  have  occurred. 

THE  BLOCK  SYSTEM 

There  are  67  collisions  and  1  derailment  noted  in  these  bulle- 
tins, resulting  in  270  deaths  and  734  injuries  to  passengers  and 
employees,  which  might  have  been  avoided  had  the  block  system 


APPENDIX  347 

been  in  use.  Twenty  collisions  resulting  in  70  deaths  and  391 
injuries  to  passengers  and  employees  occurred  where  the  block 
system  was  in  use.  The  great  majority  of  these  accidents  were 
caused  by  the  negligence  of  employees,  either  in  giving  wrong 
signals  or  in  failing  to  observe  and  obey  signals  properly  given. 
Five  of  these  20  collisions,  however,  resulting  in  9  deaths  and 
44  injuries,  occurred  because  the  rules  of  the  railroads  on  which 
they  took  place  did  not  require  a  strict  interpretation  of  the 
block  system,  —  in  other  words,  the  system  was  permissive 
instead  of  absolute,  permitting  two  trains  to  occupy  the  same 
block  at  the  same  time,  the  following  train  having  instructions 
to  run  at  reduced  speed  and  keep  a  lookout  for  the  preceding 
train.  It  is  perhaps  needless  to  say  that  under  permissive 
rules  the  advantages  of  the  block  system  are  largely  neutralized. 
Such  rules  permit  the  movement  of  a  greater  number  of  trains 
over  a  given  section  of  track  in  a  given  time  than  would  be  the 
case  were  the  absolute  block  system  in  use,  and  they  may  be 
necessary,  at  times,  to  prevent  congestion  of  traffic ;  but  where- 
ever  permissive  blocking  is  allowed,  it  must  happen  that  a  great 
measure  of  the  protection  afforded  by  the  block  system  is 
destroyed. 

DEFECTS  IN  TRAIN-ORDER  SYSTEM 

The  greatest  number  of  collisions  reported  in  these  bulletins 
were  due  to  failure  of  the  train-order  system  in  some  of  its  parts. 
Dispatchers  gave  wrong  orders,  or  failed  to  give  orders  where 
they  were  required;  operators  failed  to  copy  orders  correctly, 
or  did  not  deliver  orders  that  should  have  been  delivered ;  con- 
ductors and  engineers  misread,  misinterpreted,  overlooked  or 
forgot  orders.  Seventy-five  accidents  of  this  class  are  noted, 
resulting  in  188  deaths  and  828  injuries  to  passengers  and  em- 
pJoyees.  Many  of  the  most  distressing  collisions  that  have 
occurred  in  this  country  were  due  to  mistakes  in  orders,  and  the 
regularity  and  frequency  with  which  such  accidents  occur 
emphasize  the  necessity  for  radical  improvement  in  the  methods 


348  APPENDIX 

of  handling  trains  by  telegraphic  orders  or  the  abolition  of  the 
train-order  system  entirely. 

It  is  noteworthy  that  4  of  the  above  75  collisions,  resulting 
in  14  deaths  and  84  injuries  to  passengers  and  employees,  and 
a  property  loss  of  nearly  one  hundred  thousand  dollars,  were  due 
to  identical  mistakes  in  reading  orders,  —  the  overlooking  of 
"2d"  or  "second."  The  following  is  a  typical  example  of 
this  sort  of  error:  " Conductor  and  engineman  of  one  train 
misread  orders.  They  had  a  '19'  order  against  'Second  No.  I/ 
but  read  it  'No.  1 ' ;  engineman  was  killed.  Being  on  form  19, 
the  order  was  not  read  by  the  operator  to  the  conductor  and 
engineman."  This  mistake  caused  a  butting  collision  between 
a  passenger  and  a  freight  train,  in  which  4  persons  were  killed 
and  60  injured.  It  may  be  observed  that  the  collision  at 
Warrensburg,  Mo.,  on  October  10,  in  which  30  persons  were 
killed  and  an  equal  number  terribly  injured,  was  another  in- 
stance of  this  sort  of  error.  Such  identical  errors  emphasize 
the  need  of  some  change  in  the  scheme  of  numbering  or  naming 
trains  or  in  writing  the  numbers  or  names  in  dispatchers'  orders. 

A  collision  between  a  passenger  and  a  freight  train,  in  which 
22  persons  were  killed  and  25  injured,  was  due  also  to  misread- 
ing orders.  The  conductor  of  the  freight  train  read  1  hour  and 
20  minutes,  but  the  order  was  written  20  minutes.  Collisions 
due  to  operators  copying  orders  wrongly  or  failing  to  deliver 
orders  are  numerous.  One  collision  was  due  to  the  engineer 
of  one  of  the  trains  misreading  the  name  of  the  station  written 
in  his  order.  Mistakes  of  dispatchers  are  not  so  numerous,  but 
there  are  several  cases  of  lap  orders  and  failure  to  make  meet- 
ing-point. 

OVERWORKED  TRAINMEN 

The  following  cases  (rear  collisions  resulting  in  5  deaths)  are 
typical  of  a  condition  concerning  which  there  has  been  much 
complaint  of  late :  "Local  freight  standing  at  station ;  12  hours 
late;  no  flag  out;  weather  foggy;  men  on  duty  25  hours  30 


APPENDIX  349 

minutes."  "Engineer  failed  to  properly  control  speed;  had 
been  on  duty  22  hours,  with  5  hours'  rest  within  that  time." 
"  Flagman,  who  had  been  ordered  to  hold  one  of  the  trains, 
went  into  caboose  to  get  red  light ;  sat  down  to  warm  himself 
and  dry  his  clothes ;  fell  asleep ;  had  been  on  duty  16^  hours." 
It  is  undeniable  that  many  of  the  accidents  which  occur  are 
largely  contributed  to,  if  not  directly  caused  by,  the  long  hours 
of  duty  to  which  trainmen  are  subjected.  Could  we  trace  the 
events  to  their  first  cause,  we  should  doubtless  find  that  many 
of  those  cases  of  misreading,  overlooking,  or  forgetting  orders 
were  due  to  the  fact  that  wits  were  dulled  and  senses  benumbed 
by  lack  of  rest.  In  the  distressing  wreck  at  Glenwood,  111., 
last  summer,  in  which  a  large  number  of  excursionists  were 
killed  and  injured  by  a  freight  train  running  into  a  passenger 
train,  the  evidence  at  the  coroner's  inquest  showed  that  the 
freight  engineer  (whom  the  officials  of  the  road  said  "disregarded 
plain  orders  and  acted  like  a  crazy  man")  had  been  on  duty 
more  than  20  hours.  In  commenting  on  this  case,  it  was  per- 
tinently said  by  one  of  the  Chicago  papers  that  "the  officials 
of  the  company  might  as  well  fill  their  engineers  and  firemen 
with  whiskey  or  drug  them  with  opium  as  to  send  them  out 
for  15  and  17  hours  of  continuous  work  expecting  them  to  keep 
their  heads,  apply  intelligently  the  general  rules  of  the  road, 
and  give  exact  obedience  to  all  orders." 

It  was  pointed  out  on  behalf  of  the  company  in  this  Glen- 
wood  case  that  the  company  rules  permitted  employees  to  take 
10  hours'  rest  after  they  had  been  on  duty  16  hours.  It  is 
a  universal  rule  with  railroad  companies  to  permit  a  period 
of  rest  after  a  certain  period  of  duty  before  employees  are  called 
upon  to  go  on  duty  again.  But  the  trouble  is  that  these  rules 
are  permissive,  not  mandatory.  They  do  not  compel  employees 
to  take  rest  unless  the  employees  themselves  think  they  need  it, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  the  necessities  of  the  roads,  growing  out 
of  the  movement  of  traffic,  coupled  with  the  greed  of  the  men, 


350  APPENDIX 

who  in  many  cases  overwork  themselves  in  order  to  achieve 
a  big  month's  pay,  render  the  rules  of  little  or  no  effect. 

Again ;  there  is  no  well-organized  system  of  relieving  crews 
on  the  road  after  they  have  been  on  continuous  duty  for  an 
excessive  number  of  hours.  It  is  a  common  practice,  when  crews 
ask  for  rest  in  the  middle  of  a  trip,  to  run  them  into  a  side  track, 
out  on  the  road,  and  let  them  sleep  on  the  train  before  com- 
pleting the  trip.  The  sort  of  rest  that  men  get  while  lying  down 
in  a  cramped  position  on  an  engine,  while  fully  clothed,  is  not 
satisfying,  and  cases  are  reported  in  our  bulletins  where  men 
have  pulled  right  out  of  a  side  track  in  the  face  of  an  opposing 
train,  after  such  a  period  of  rest,  under  the  impression  that  the 
train  had  gone.  Furthermore,  the  construction  that  is  likely 
to  be  placed  on  these  rest  rules  of  railroad  companies  is  obvious 
from  a  quotation  of  the  rule  in  force  on  one  of  the  most  prominent 
roads  in  the  country,  as  follows  :  "  When  train  or  yard  men  have 
been  over  10  hours  on  continuous  duty,  they  will,  after  arrival 
at  the  terminus,^  be  entitled  to  8  hours'  rest  without  preju- 
dice, except  when  necessary  to  avoid  delay  to  live  stock  or 
perishable  freight."  It  will  be  noted  that  the  period  of  rest  is 
allowed  only  after  arrival  at  the  terminus,  and  then  only  when 
it  will  not  delay  the  movement  of  live  stock  or  perishable  freight. 
When  it  is  considered  that  in  one  of  the  accidents  noted  above 
the  train  crew  had  been  on  duty  25  hours  and  30  minutes, 
and  had  not  yet  arrived  at  the  terminus,  it  will  be  seen  how 
little  relief  is  afforded  by  such  rules  in  many  urgent  cases. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  railroads  generally  have 
worked  under  many  disadvantages  of  late  years.  The  necessi- 
ties growing  out  of  the  movement  of  extraordinary  volumes  of 
traffic,  and  the  demands  of  the  public1  for  increased  and  faster 
train  service,  have  taxed  the  facilities  of  the  roads  to  their 
utmost,  leading  to  the  placing  of  many  inexperienced  men 
in  responsible  positions,  to  the  overworking  of  men,  and  to  a 
disregard  of  many  safeguards  that  under  ordinary  conditions 


APPENDIX  351 

would  have  been  strictly  observed.  There  is  a  tendency  in 
certain  quarters  to  refer  many  of  our  railroad  casualties  to  the 
great  American  tendency  to  rush  things,  and  I  have  even  heard 
it  remarked  that  the  public  demands  the  service  and  must 
accept  the  dangers  incident  thereto ;  but  this  is  hardly  a  fair 
way  of  looking  at  the  matter,  and,  when  the  public  is  confronted 
with  a  mass  of  purely  avoidable  casualties,  it  is  proper  to  ask 
if  it  is  not  time  to  call  a  halt  and  insist  on  the  introduction  of 
such  safeguards  as  will  reduce  such  casualties  to  a  minimum, 
even  though  it  may  result  in  a  lessening  of  the  characteristic 
hurry  and  bustle  with  which  Americans  are  accustomed  to 
move  about  from  place  to  place. 

THE  BRITISH  SYSTEM  OF  REGULATION 

It  is  pertinent  to  inquire  if  the  time  has  not  arrived  for  a  more 
effective  system  of  railway  regulation,  following  the  example  of 
Great  Britain.  Under  the  Regulation  of  Railways  Act  of  Great 
Britain,  railway  companies  are  required  to  report  accidents  to 
the  Board  of  Trade  in  such  form,  and  giving  such  particulars, 
as  the  board  may  direct,  by  the  earliest  practical  post  after 
the  accident  takes  place ;  and,  furthermore,  the  board  has  power 
to  direct  that  notice  of  any  class  of  accidents  shall  be  sent  to 
them  by  telegraph  immediately  after  the  accident  takes  place. 
The  board  may  direct  an  inquiry  to  be  made  by  one  of  its  in- 
spectors into  the  cause  of  any  accident,  and,  whenever  it  deems 
necessary,  it  may  call  in  experts  and  magistrates  to  assist  its 
inspector  in  making  a  more  formal  investigation.  The  persons 
holding  this  formal  investigation  have  all  the  powers  of  a  court 
of  summary  jurisdiction,  and  may  enter  and  inspect  places  or 
buildings,  require  the  attendance  of  persons  and  answers  to 
such  inquiries  as  they  see  fit  to  make,  enforce  the  production 
of  books,  papers,  and  documents,  administer  oaths,  and  are 
generally  clothed  with  such  powers  as  will  enable  them  to  get 
at  the  facts.  The  inspectors  of  the  board,  and  the  persons 


352  APPENDIX 

acting  with  them  in  making  formal  inquiries,  as  set  forth  above, 
are  required  to  make  a  report  of  the  results  of  their  investi- 
gations to  the  Board  of  Trade,  and  the  Board  of  Trade  is  re- 
quired to  make  public  every  such  report. 

It  is  also  competent  for  the  Board  of  Trade  to  appoint  an 
inspector  or  some  person  possessing  legal  or  special  knowledge, 
to  assist  coroners  in  holding  inquests  on  the  death  of  persons 
killed  in  railway  accidents,  reports  of  such  inquests  to  be  made 
to  the  Board  of  Trade  and  to  be  made  public  in  like  manner  as  in 
the  case  of  a  formal  investigation.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
this  rigid  supervision  and  investigation  of  accidents  tends  to  pro- 
mote the  safety  of  both  travelers  and  employees,  and  to  im- 
provements in  operation  and  working  brought  about  by  the 
recommendations  of  the  Board,  as  a  result  of  these  investiga- 
tions, may  be  attributed  a  great  share  of  the  comparative  im- 
munity from  serious  railway  accidents  which  the  people  of 
Great  Britain  enjoy. 

In  this  connection  it  is  proper  to  say  that  the  Interstate  Com- 
merce Commission  has  made  no  recent  comparisons  between 
the  accident  statistics  of  the  United  States  and  those  of  foreign 
countries,  and  the  recent  statement  that  has  been  going  the 
rounds  of  the  press,  purporting  to  give  the  total  of  persons  killed 
and  injured  on  the  railroads  of  this  country  and  Great  Britain 
in  1904,  and  making  comparisons  between  this  country  and 
Great  Britain,  is  entirely  unauthorized.  The  Commission  has 
made  no  such  comparisons,  and  the  only  figures  for  1904  that 
have  yet  been  compiled  are  those  appearing  in  this  article. 

REMEDIES  PROPOSED 

Summarizing  the  remedies  suggested  by  the  above  exhibit 
of  causes,  they  are  : — 

1.  An  extension  of  the  block  system  as  rapidly  as  practicable, 
and  its  strict  interpretation  on  lines  already  blocked. 

2.  A  radical  reform  in  the  train-order  system  as  applied  to 


APPENDIX  353 

single-track  roads,  or  its  entire  abolition,  substituting  the  electric 
staff  or  tablet  system,  as  has  been  done  in  Great  Britain. 

3.  The  introduction  of  rigid  rules  governing  the  hours  of  labor 
of  railroad  employees  engaged  in  train  service. 

4.  The  employment  of  a  third  man  on  all  modern  high-speed 
locomotives. 

5.  An  extension  of  the  practice  of  employing  two  conductors 
on  heavy  high-speed  trains,  one  to  look  after  the  running  of 
the  train  exclusively  and  the  other  to  look  after  the  tickets, 
as  is  now  the  practice  on  several  of  the  transcontinental  lines. 

6.  The  employment  of  only  experienced  men  in  responsible 
positions. , 

7.  An  extension  of  second,  third,  and  fourth  track  mileage 
as  rapidly  as  practicable,  to  accommodate  the  growing  necessi- 
ties of  traffic. 

THE  PENALTY  OF  PROGRESS 

By  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY.  (In  the  Independent  June  11, 
1908.) 

It  is  impossible  for  me  to  give  the  subject  of  industrial  ac- 
cidents exhaustive  treatment  within  the  necessarily  brief  limits 
of  an  article  of  this  character,  nor  shall  I  attempt  it.  I  can 
only  hope  to  indicate  the  proportions  of  a  problem  which,  in  my 
judgment,  is  of  transcendent  importance  in  its  bearing  upon  our 
welfare  as  a  nation,  and  point  out  what  has  been  done  toward  its 
solution  in  the  comparatively  limited  sphere  of  Federal  activity. 

SOCIETY  CANNOT  BE  INDIFFERENT 

Society  cannot  be  indifferent  to  the  need  of  its  widows; 
it  cannot  safely  ignore  the  cry  of  children  made  fatherless  by 
methods  and  machines  which  typify  our  present  wonderful 
industrial  development.  If  the  elements  of  national  vitality, 
prosperity,  and  happiness  are  sapped  to  produce  such  develop- 
ment, it  is  purchased  at  too  great  a  price ;  and  in  our  strenuous 

2A 


354  APPENDIX 

attempts  to  write  down  industrial  results  in  big  figures  it  is 
high  time  we  paused  to  count  the  cost  in  human  life  and  limb. 

The  most  commendable  feature  of  the  Roosevelt  administra- 
tion, the  fact  that  stands  out  most  prominently  as  entitling  it  to 
popular  approval,  is  the  consistent  effort  that  has  been  made  to 
awaken  the  public  conscience  in  industrial  matters  and  secure 
justice  for  wage  earners.  The  keynote  of  this  effort  was 
struck  by  the  President  in  his  Georgia  Day  speech  at  James- 
town, when,  in  discussing  the  question  of  industrial  accidents, 
he  said  :  "Legislation  should  be  had,  alike  from  the  Nation  and 
from  the  States,  not  only  to  guard  against  the  needless  multi- 
plication of  these  accidents,  but  to  relieve  the  financial  suffer- 
ing due  to  them.  It  is  neither  just,  expedient  nor  humane ;  it 
is  revolting  to  judgment  and  sentiment  alike,  that  the  financial 
burden  of  accidents  occurring  because  of  the  necessary  exigencies 
of  their  daily  occupation  should  be  thrust  upon  those  sufferers 
who  are  least  able  to  bear  it,  and  that  such  remedy  as  is  theirs 
should  only  be  obtained  by  litigation  which  now  burdens  our 
courts." 

WORKINGMEN'S  COMPENSATION 

The  remedy  proposed  by  the  President  is  a  workmen's  com- 
pensation. He  rightly  judges  that  only  by  increasing  the  finan- 
cial responsibility  of  employers  for  the  death  or  injury  of  their 
employees  can  industrial  accidents  be  reduced  to  the  limits 
of  the  unavoidable.  Said  the  President :  — 

"  Congress  should  adopt  legislation  providing  limited  but 
definite  compensation  for  accidents  to  all  workmen  within  the 
scope  of  the  Federal  power,  including  employees  in  navy  yards 
and  arsenals.  Similar  legislation  should  follow  throughout 
the  States.  The  old  and  inadequate  remedy  of  suit  for 
negligence  would  then  gradually  disappear.  Such  a  policy 
would  mean  that  with  increased  responsibility  of  the  employer 
would  come  increased  care,  and  accidents  would  be  reduced  in 
number." 


APPENDIX  355 

One  who  has  given  but  little  thought  to  the  subject  may 
think  the  President's  language  somewhat  radical,  even  revolu- 
tionary. Careful  consideration,  however,  will  convince  an 
impartial  investigator  that  Mr.  Roosevelt  has  not  overstated 
the  injustice  which  society  imposes  upon  wage  earners  and 
their  families  by  requiring  them  to  bear  the  whole  burden  of 
industrial  accidents;  and  the  remedy  proposed,  namely,  a 
definite  compensation  act,  is,  as  the  President  well  said,  only 
a  step  towards  securing  "fair  and  equitable  treatment  for  each 
and  every  one  of  our  people." 

PROFESSIONAL  RISK 

It  is  well  known  that  the  constantly  recurring  accidents  in  all 
industrial  occupations  result  in  a  certain  constant  ratio  of  killed 
and  injured,  which  is  known  as  the  "professional  risk"  of  the 
employment.  In  Great  Britain  and  the  countries  of  Conti- 
nental Europe  it  is  the  theory  that  this  risk  should  be  borne  by 
the  employer,  since  the  labor  of  the  employee  is  an  absolutely 
necessary  factor  in  the  conduct  of  industry,  and  the  employer 
derives  all  his  profit  therefrom.  The  employee  is,  therefore, 
entitled  to  compensation  for  any  damage  which  he  may  sustain 
(affecting  his  earning  power  or  his  ability  to  maintain  himself 
and  his  dependents),  while  in  the  exercise  of  his  vocation. 
This  theory  finds  its  legal  expression  in  the  Employers'  Liability 
and  Workmen's  Compensation  Acts  of  Great  Britain,  and  in 
numerous  statutes  modifying  the  common  law  rules  of  master 
and  servant  in  Germany,  France,  Switzerland,  and  other 
countries  of  Continental  Europe.  There  is  no  question  about 
the  compensation  to  which  an  injured  workman  is  entitled,  and 
he  receives  it  without  recourse  to  an  action  at  law. 

In  the  United  States,  however,  although  he  is  theoretically 
endowed  with  greater  political  power  than  in  any  other  country 
on  earth,  the  wage  earner  has  had  no  such  protection.  He 
has  been  forced  to  go  into  court  to  obtain  compensation  for 


356  APPENDIX 

injuries  received  as  an  incident  of  his  employment,  and  he  la- 
bored under  the  additional  disadvantage  of  having  little  or  no 
statutory  protection,  especially  in  those  employments  that  came 
within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Federal  courts,  such  as  work  for 
interstate  common  carriers.  In  such  cases  an  injured  workman 
must  show  that  his  injury  was  undoubtedly  caused  by  the 
negligence  of  his  employer,  and  he  must  do  this  under  common 
law  rules  that  placed  the  employer  practically  beyond  the  reach 
of  liability. 

CASE  OF  FIREMAN  BAUGH 

Reference  to  a  leading  case,  namely,  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Rail- 
road Company  v.  Baugh,  149  U.  S.  368,  will  illustrate  the  dis- 
abilities under  which  railroad  employees  have  labored  and  em- 
phasize the  need  of  Federal  legislation  'for  their  protection. 
Baugh  was  a  locomotive  fireman,  who  received  an  injury  through 
the  negligence  of  his  engineer.  He  began  an  action  for  damages 
against  the  Baltimore  &  Ohio  Railroad  Company,  his  employer, 
in  one  of  the  courts  of  the  State  of  Ohio,  but  the  defendant, 
claiming  citizenship  in  Maryland  by  reason  of  its  incorporation 
in  that  State,  obtained  a  removal  of  the  cause  to  the  Circuit 
Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  southern  district  of  Maryland. 
That  court,  following  the  decisions  of  the  Ohio  courts,  gave 
Baugh  a  judgment  for  $6,750,  but  the  railroad  company  appealed 
the  case  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States,  where  the 
judgment  of  the  lower  court  was  reversed  on  the  ground  that, 
because  of  its  interstate  character,  the  liability  of  the  railroad 
company  must  be  determined  by  the  general  law  and  not  by 
the  decisions  of  the  supreme  court  of  the  State  of  Ohio.  Under 
the  general  law,  Baugh  could  obtain  nothing,  although  under 
the  law  as  interpreted  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of 
Ohio  he  had  been  awarded  a  verdict  to  the  amount  of  nearly 
$7,000.  We  may  thus  observe  the  paradoxical  condition  that 
an  interstate  railroad  in  the  State  of  Ohio  may  incur  no  liabil- 


APPENDIX  357 

ity  for  the  death  or  injury  of  an  employee,  while  an  employee 
of  a  parallel  intrastate  road  who  might  be  killed  or  injured  under 
precisely  similar  conditions  would  be  awarded  damages.  The 
existence  of  such  conditions  as  this  early  attracted  the  attention 
of  Mr.  Roosevelt,  and  in  his  first  message  to  Congress,  Dec. 
2,  1902,  he  recommended  the  enactment  of  an  employers' 
liability  law.  This  recommendation  was  repeated  in  subse- 
quent messages,  and  finally  resulted  in  the  passage  of  the  Act 
of  June  11,  1906,  which  came  before  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States,  to  determine  its  constitutionality,  the  right  of 
Congress  to  pass  such  a  law  having  been  contested  by  the 
railroads. 

FINANCIAL  BURDEN  TO  EMPLOYEES 

Let  us  briefly  consider  the  financial  burden  imposed  upon 
railroad  employees  by  the  casualties  which  are  an  incident  of 
their  calling.  It  is  well  known  that  employees  in  railroad  train 
service  are  unable  to  procure  insurance  in  any  of  the  old-line 
companies,  except  at  rates  that  are  practically  prohibitive, 
while  most  of  the  companies  absolutely  refuse  to  accept  such 
risks  under  any  consideration.  Certain  of  the  companies  will 
write  five,  ten,  and  fifteen  year  endowment  policies  for  switch- 
men at  premiums  based  upon  a  twenty-year  advance  in  age; 
thus,  for  instance,  a  switchman,  aged  twenty-five  years,  may 
obtain  such  a  policy  by  paying  the  forty-five-year  premium  rate. 
Inasmuch  as  insurance  premium  rates  are  based  upon  broad 
observation  and  are  always  the  result  of  careful  and  accurate 
consideration,  this  fact  is  vastly  significant.  It  means  that 
the  man  who  embraces  the  occupation  of  railroad  switchman 
thereby  at  once  cuts  twenty  years  off  his  reasonable  expectancy 
of  life.  If  there  is  any  compensating  advantage  in  this  occupa- 
tion to  offset  the  horror  of  this  grim  fact,  the  writer  has  failed 
to  discover  it  in  more  than  twenty  years7  close  observation  of 
the  conditions  of  railway  labor. 


358  APPENDIX 

Being  denied  the  benefits  of  ordinary  insurance,  railroad 
employees  have  been  compelled  to  establish  and  maintain  in- 
surance societies  of  their  own.  These  societies  are  never  called 
upon  to  pay  death  claims  as  a  result  of  old  age.  Their  payments, 
however,  on  account  of  railroad  accidents,  are  surprisingly 
large,  and  in  most  of  the  organizations  represent  a  major  por- 
tion of  the  total  claims  paid.  In  the  year  1906  the  Brotherhood 
of  Railroad  Trainmen,  with  a  membership  of  82,937,  composed 
of  conductors,  brakemen,  switchmen,  and  baggagemen,  paid 
1,350  claims,  amounting  to  a  total  of  $1,671,548.96.  More 
than  two  thirds  of  these  claims,  or  927  of  the  whole  number, 
representing  a  cash  total  of  considerably  more  than  a  million 
dollars,  were  paid  as  a  result  of  deaths  and  disabilities  caused 
by  railroad  accidents.  During  the  year  ending  June  30,  1907, 
the  Brotherhood  of  Locomotive  Firemen  and  Enginemen,  with 
a  membership  of  about  63,000  engineers  and  firemen,  paid  663 
death  and  disability  claims,  amounting  to  $947,100.  More 
than  51  per  cent  of  these  claims,  or  340  of  the  whole  number, 
representing  a  cash  payment  of  $489,500,  were  paid  on  account 
of  deaths  and  disabilities  caused  by  railroad  accidents.  The 
Switchmen's  Union  of  North  America  is  a  comparatively  small 
organization,  with  membership  confined  to  switchmen  employed 
in  railroad  yard  service.  Last  year  this  organization  paid 
179  death  and  disability  claims.  Three  fourths  of  these  claims, 
or  128  of  the  whole  number,  were  paid  for  deaths  or  disabilities 
incurred  by  members  in  the  ordinary  discharge  of  their  vocation  ! 
Why  should  this  enormous  toll  of  life  and  treasure  be  exacted 
from  railroad  employees  ?  Does  the  efficient  operation  of  the 
Nation's  splendid  transportation  system  require  that  this  great 
burden  remain  where  it  has  been  ?  Suppose  we  admit  that  the 
terrible  sacrifice  of  lives  and  limbs  is  a  necessary  concomitant 
of  railroad  operation.  Suppose  we  resign  ourselves  with  oriental 
fatalism  to  the  belief  that  our  transportation  Juggernaut  must 
continue  to  crush  out  the  lives  of  its  operatives  without  abate- 


APPENDIX  359 

ment.  Even  then,  can  we  excuse  ourselves  for  saddling  upon 
those  operatives  the  financial  burden  of  providing  for  the  needs 
of  their  widows  and  orphans,  made  such  by  the  very  exigencies 
of  the  industry  itself  ?  Is  it  not  more  to  the  point  and  more  akin 
to  justice,  that  this  burden  should  be  assumed  by  the  transporta- 
tion industry  and,  through  it,  by  society  as  a  whole  ? 

SENTIENT  AND  INSENTIENT 

The  necessary  factors  of  railroad  operation  are  sentient  and 
insentient;  human  beings  and  their  tools  and  materials  with 
which  they  work.  Both  are  subjected  to  wear  and  tear;  both 
are  wasted  in  the  performance  of  their  functions.  The  rail- 
roads bear  the  expense  of  repairing  the  waste  of  their  insentient 
instruments  of  operation,  the  wear  and  tear  of  roadbed  and  track, 
bridges  and  buildings,  locomotives  and  cars ;  but  for  their  sen- 
tient instruments  of  operation,  they  have  no  concern.  The  waste 
of  human  life  and  limb,  the  wear  and  tear  of  that  active,  intelligent 
army  of  human  beings  whose  labor  alone  makes  their  operation 
possible,  is  not  a  necessary  item  in  the  expense  account  of  rail- 
roads. They  maintain  a  fund  for  the  replacement  of  all  the 
insentient  factors  of  operation  that  are  worn  out  or  wrecked  and 
have  to  be  consigned  to  the  scrap  heap,  but  the  human  being 
that  is  wrecked  as  a  consequence  of  his  professional  risk  so 
as  to  make  him  unfit  for  further  service  is  cast  aside,  and  the 
carrier  would  assume  no  responsibility  whatever  for  his  con- 
dition. He  must  assume  his  own  risk,  must  bear  his  own 
damage  as  though  it  had  occurred  by  reason  of  his  fault  or  his 
negligence,  when,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  his  damage  is  as  much  a 
result  of  the  operation  of  the  property  as  is  the  damage  to 
locomotives  and  cars,  bridges  and  buildings,  railway  and  track, 
for  all  of  which  the  carrier  provides  without  question.  As 
was  said  by  Professor  Bushnell  in  a  thought-provoking  article 
calling  attention  to  the  alarming  increase  in  the  number  of 
abnormal  dependents  in  the  United  States:  "Soldiers  suffer 


360  APPENDIX 

because  they  are  professional  destroyers,  but  members  of  this 
great  industrial  army  are  struck  down  every  year  in  this  country 
because  they  are  producers.  This  is  the  price  they  have  to  pay 
for  the  privilege  of  earning  their  bread  in  serving  civilization/' 
It  is  to  the  everlasting  credit  of  President  Roosevelt  that  he 
has  perceived  the  essential  injustice  of  this  situation  and  has 
earnestly  endeavored  to  correct  it,  not  alone  by  advocating  the 
passage  of  the  employers'  liability  and  workmen's  compensation 
acts,  but  by  insisting  upon  a  rigid  enforcement  of  Federal  statutes 
calculated  to  reduce  the  number  of  accidents  as  well  as  pointing 
out  the  need  of  strengthening  or  supplementing  such  legislation 
in  the  interest  of  greater  safety.  The  Safety- Appliance  Act  of 
1893,  for  the  better  protection  of  railroad  employees  in  coupling 
and  uncoupling  cars,  has  been  vigorously  enforced  by  the  ad- 
ministration under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Roosevelt ;  indeed,  had 
it  not  been  for  the  work  of  Senator  Knox,  then  Attorney-General, 
in  securing  action  by  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States 
in  the  Johnson  case,  the  humane  purpose  of  this  benefit  law 
would  have  been  largely  defeated.  This  was  the  first  instance 
wherein  the  Federal  Government  intervened  in  a  private  suit 
for  the  purpose  of  preserving  the  integrity  of  an  Act  of  Congress, 
and  to  both  the  President  and  Senator  Knox  a  debt  of  gratitude 
is  due  for  inaugurating  the  proceedings  in  this  case  and  pushing 
them  to  a  successful  conclusion.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that 
many  lives  have  been  thus  saved  to  the  nation  that  would  have 
otherwise  been  wasted.  Regulation  of  the  hours  of  labor  of 
railway  employees  in  train  service  is  another  matter  that  has 
been  urged  upon  Congress  by  the  President,  for  the  purpose  of 
reducing  the  number  of  lives  lost  in  railroad  accidents.  After 
vigorous  opposition  by  the  railroads  through  two  sessions  of 
Congress  a  law  limiting  the  hours  of  labor  of  employees  in  train 
service  was  placed  on  the  statute  books.  This  law  became 
effective  on  the  4th  of  March,  1908. 


APPENDIX  361 

BLOCK  SIGNALS 

A  law  requiring  the  use  of  block  signals  on  railroads  engaged 
in  interstate  commerce  is  another  measure  that  has  been  firmly 
advocated  by  the  Administration.  As  a  measure  for  the  preven- 
tion of  collisions,  the  enforcement  of  the  space  interval  between 
trains,  which  will  be  brought  about  by  the  enforcement  of  a 
proper  block  signal  system,  is  a  matter  of  paramount  impor- 
tance. The  railroads  have  opposed  the  enactment  of  such  legis- 
lation on  the  score  of  expense,  but  when  its  vast  possibilities  in 
the  way  of  saving  human  life  are  taken  into  consideration,  it 
would  seem  that  arguments  of  this  character  should  have  little 
weight.  Again,  the  matter  of  expense  has  been  greatly  over- 
estimated by  the  railroads,  as  the  bill  for  the  regulation  of  this 
matter,  which  has  the  support  of  the  Administration,  is  so  formu- 
lated as  to  provide  that  the  item  of  expense  shall  not  be  unduly 
burdensome  upon  any  particular  carrier.  In  order  that  Con- 
gress may  have  full  information  on  this  subject  so  as  to  enable 
it  to  legislate  intelligently,  a  joint  resolution  was  paueud  directing 
the  Interstate  Commerce  Commission  to  investigate  and  report 
on  the  use  of  and  necessity  for  block  signal  systems  and  appli- 
ances for  the  automatic  control  of  railway  trains,  and  an  appro- 
priation of  $50,000  was  granted  the  Commission  to  enable  it  to 
make  experimental  tests  of  such  block  signal  systems  and  appli- 
ances. Under  the  authority  of  this  resolution  the  Commission 
appointed  a  board  of  experts  to  make  a  thorough  investigation 
of  the  whole  subject. 

ONE  MILLION  WORKERS  ANNUALLY  KILLED 
All  these  matters  are  steps  hi  the  direction  of  lessening  the 
number  of  industrial  accidents,  and  so  of  greater  economy  in 
the  expenditure  of  human  life.  In  the  article  previously  re- 
ferred to,  Professor  Bushnell  states  that  "at  a  conservative 
figure,  1,000,000  workers  in  the  United  States  every  year  are 
killed  or  injured  in  industry  by  accidents,  of  which  three  quarters 


362  APPENDIX 

are  proven  by  European  experience  to  be  wholly  unnecessary." 
I  do  not  know  whence  Professor  Bushnell  derives  his  authority 
for  the  statement  that  75  per  cent  of  our  industrial  accidents  are 
wholly  unnecessary,  and  I  am  inclined  to  believe  his  estimate 
excessive ;  but  it  is,  nevertheless,  a  fact  that  cannot  be  ques- 
tioned that  hi  all  industrial  occupations  in  the  United  States 
there  is  a  reckless  and  wholly  unnecessary  waste  of  human  life. 
This  shameful  condition  will  continue  until  effective  measures 
are  taken  to  increase  the  financial  responsibility  of  employers 
for  the  death  or  injury  of  employees ;  in  other  words,  industrial 
slaughter  will  go  on  as  long  as  it  remains  cheaper  to  maim  and 
kill  men  than  to  provide  effective  measures  of  safety  for  them. 
Whether  we  like  to  recognize  it  or  not,  the  fact  remains  that  the 
whole  matter  is  one  of  dollars  and  cents,  and  we  as  a  nation  are 
greatly  to  blame  that  our  statutes  and  our  courts  have  held 
human  life  too  cheap.  We  have  held  safety  appliances  more 
expensive  than  human  beings.  We  must  reverse  this  policy 
by  the  enactment  of  effective  liability  and  compensation  acts  in 
all  of  our  States  and  by  vigorous  enforcement  of  such  laws  of 
that  character  as  are  now  on  our  statute  books. 

Federal  legislation  is  not  able  to  deal  with  this  question  in  all 
of  its  aspects,  as  the  power  of  Congress  to  deal  with  the  conditions 
of  labor  is  necessarily  limited  to  labor  engaged  in  interstate 
commerce  or  upon  the  waters  of  the  United  States.  The  Federal 
power  has  a  fertile  field  of  operation,  however,  in  connection 
with  railroads  engaged  in  interstate  commerce,  and  it  is  en- 
couraging to  note  that  Congress  has  apparently  embarked  upon 
a  program  of  remedial  legislation  which  promises  vastly  to  in- 
crease our  regard  for  the  value  of  human  life  and  reduce  the  num- 
ber of  accidents  upon  interstate  railroads  to  the  limits  of  the 
unavoidable. 


APPENDIX  363 

FEDERAL  SUPREMACY 

A  STUDY  OF  THE  POWER  OF  THE  CONGRESS  OVER  RAILROADS, 
BY  EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 

(Published  in  pamphlet  form,  March  23,  1907.) 

Can  Congress,  in  the  exercise  of  its  power  of  control  over 
interstate  commerce,  either  through  the  commerce  clause  of 
the  Constitution  or  through  the  power  to  establish  post-roads 
and  to  raise  and  support  armies,  establish  regulations,  and  fix  the 
rates  to  be  charged  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and 
property  over  interstate  roads,  even  to  the  extent  of  regulating 
the  rates  to  be  charged  from  one  point  to  another  within  the 
boundaries  of  a  State  without  regard  to  the  regulating  power 
of  the  States? 

Previous  to  the  act  to  facilitate  commercial,  postal,  and  mili- 
tary communication  among  the  several  States,  passed  by  Con- 
gress June  15, 1866  (14  Stat.,  66),  the  National  Government  had 
never  assumed  the  right  to  grant  charters  for  the  construction 
of  railroads  in  any  of  the  States  without  their  consent,  and  the 
very  extended  debates  which  preceded  the  enactment  of  this 
measure  turned  mainly  upon  the  right  of  Congress  to  charter 
such  roads.  The  act  in  question  was  introduced  originally  by 
Senator  Sumner  for  the  purpose  of  correcting  an  interference  with 
interstate  commerce  which  had  arisen  through  the  action  of  the 
State  of  New  Jersey  in  granting  a  monopoly  for  the  transporta- 
tion of  passengers  and  property  between  the  cities  of  New  York 
and  Philadelphia  to  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad  Company. 

One  of  the  terms  of  the  charter  under  which  this  road  operated 
was  that,  in  lieu  of  all  other  taxation,  the  road  should  pay  to  the 
State  of  New  Jersey  a  tax  of  ten  cents  for  every  passenger  car- 
ried over  its  line  between  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Phila- 
delphia, and  all  other  railroads  were  forbidden  to  enter  into 
competition  with  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad  for  the  trans- 


364  APPENDIX 

portation  of  passengers  and  property  across  the  State  of  New 
Jersey  between  the  cities  of  New  York  and  Philadelphia. 
During  the  war  the  National  Government,  in  the  transportation 
of  troops  and  supplies  for  the  maintenance  of  its  armies,  was 
unable  to  secure  adequate  transportation  facilities  from  the 
Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad,  and  in  this  energency  pressed  the 
Raritan  &  Delaware  Bay  Railroad  into  its  service  for  the  trans- 
portation of  a  number  of  troops  and  a  quantity  of  quarter- 
master's stores  from  New  York  to  Philadelphia. 

Under  the  terms  of  its  charter  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad 
filed  a  bill  in  equity  praying  that  the  Raritan  &  Delaware  Bay 
Railroad  be  compelled  to  desist  and  refrain  from  such  trans- 
portation, and  that  an  account  be  taken  to  ascertain  the 
amount  of  damages.  The  New  Jersey  Courts  upheld  the  claims 
of  the  Camden  &  Amboy  Railroad,  and  compelled  the  Raritan 
&  Delaware  Bay  Railroad  to  pay  over  the  amount  which  it  had 
received  from  the  General  Government  for  said  service.  It  was 
to  correct  conditions  of  this  kind  that  the  act  above  mentioned 
was  introduced,  and  its  passage  was  vigorously  contested  on 
constitutional  grounds  in  three  sessions  of  Congress  previous 
to  its  passage.  Senator  Sumner,  who  introduced  the  bill,  con- 
tended for  the  right  of  the  National  Government  to  establish 
roads  within  the  States  on  three  separate  grounds  :  — 

First,  under  the  power  to  regulate  commerce  among  the 
several  States; 

Second,  under  the  power  to  establish  post-roads ;  and, 

Third,  under  the  power  to  raise  and  support  armies. 

With  regard  to  the  post-roads  clause  and  the  power  to  raise 
and  support  armies,  Senator  Sumner  spoke  as  follows  :  — 

"  There  is  also  the  power  Ho  establish  post-roads/  which  is 
equally  explicit.  Here,  too,  the  words  are  plain,  and  they  have 
received  an  authoritative  exposition.  It  is  with  reference  to 
these  words  that  Mr.  Justice  Story  remarks  that  '  constitutions 
of  Government  do  not  turn  upon  ingenious  subtleties,  but  are 
adapted  to  the  business  and  exigencies  of  human  society;  and 


APPENDIX  365 

the  powers  given  are  understood,  in  a  large  sense,  in  order  to 
secure  the  public  interests.  Common  sense  becomes  the  guide 
and  prevents  men  from  dealing  with  mere  logical  abstractions/ 
(Story,  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  Vol.  2,  Sec.  1144.) 
The  same  learned  authority,  in  considering  these  words  of  the 
Constitution,  seems  to  have  anticipated  the  very  question  now 
under  consideration.  Here  is  a  passage  which  may  fitly  close  the 
argument  on  this  head  :  — 

" 'Let  a  case  be  taken  when  State  policy'  — 

"As,  for  instance,  in  New  Jersey  at  this  time  —  'or  State 
hostility  shall  lead  the  Legislature  to  close  up  or  discontinue  a 
road,  the  nearest  and  the  best  between  two  great  States,  rivals, 
perhaps,  for  the  trade  and  intercourse  of  a  third  State ;  shall  it  be 
said  that  Congress  has  no  right  to  make  or  repair  a  road  for 
keeping  open  for  the  mail  the  best  means  of  communication 
between  those  States  ?  May  the  National  Government  be  com- 
pelled to  take  the  most  inconvenient  and  indirect  route  for  the 
mail  ?  In  other  words,  have  the  States  the  power  to  say  how, 
and  upon  what  roads,  the  mails  shall  and  shall  not  travel  ?  If 
so,  then,  in  relation  to  post-roads,  the  States,  and  not  the  Union, 
are  supreme.'  (Story,  Commentaries  on  the  Constitution,  Vol. 
2,  Sec.  1144.) 

"Then  comes  the  power  'to  raise  and  support  armies';  an 
unquestionable  power  lodged  in  Congress.  But  this  grant  car- 
ries with  it,  of  course,  all  incidental  powers  necessary  to  the 
execution  of  the  principal  power.  It  would  be  absurd  to  sup- 
pose that  Congress  could  raise  an  army,  but  could  not  authorize 
the  agencies  required  for  its  transportation  from  place  to  place. 
Congress  has  not  been  guilty  of  any  such  absurdity.  Already 
it  has  by  formal  act  proceeded  'to  authorize  the  President  of 
the  United  States  in  certain  cases  to  take  possession  of  railroads 
and  telegraphs,  and  for  other  purposes.'  (12  Statutes  at 
Large,  p.  334.)  By  this  Act  the  President  is  empowered  'to 
take  possession  of  any  or  all  the  railroad  lines  in  the  United 
States,  their  rolling  stock,  their  offices,  shops,  buildings,  and  all 
their  appendages  and  appurtenances,'  and  it  is  declared  that  any 
such  railroads  'shall  be  considered  as  a  post-road  and  a  part  of 
the  military  establishment  of  the  United  States.'  Here  is  the 
exercise  of  a  broader  power  than  any  which  is  now  proposed. 
The  less  must  be  contained  in  the  greater." 

On  the  final  passage  of  this  bill  Senator  Clarke,  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, succeeded  in  having  incorporated  as  an  amendment  to 
the  first  section  of  the  bill  the  following  words :  — 


366  APPENDIX 

"Nor  shall  it  be  construed  to  authorize  any  railroad  company 
to  build  any  new  road  or  connection  with  any  other  road  without 
authority  from  the  State  in  which  railroad  or  connection  may  be 
proposed." 

This  amendment  was  accepted  by  the  supporters  of  the  bill 
in  order  to  remove  opposition  and  insure  its  passage,  but  it  was 
insisted  by  Senator  Sumner  and  other  supporters  that  the 
amendment  was  not  at  all  necessary  to  make  the  statute  conform 
to  the  Constitution,  but  was  adopted  merely  to  allay  the  feeling 
of  opposition  on  the  part  of  the  States. 

The  debates  on  this  bill  were  exhaustive  as  to  the  right  of 
Congress  to  charter  and  construct  roads  within  the  States  with- 
out their  consent,  and  Senator  Morrill,  of  Maine,  who  was  a 
vigorous  opponent  of  the  measure,  had  this  to  say  as  to  its 
effect :  — 

"It  proposes,  sir,  in  a  word,  to  take  by  the  power  of  the 
General  Government  the  direction  of  the  internal  railway  sys- 
tems of  the  United  States.  This  is  the  proposition :  I  know  it 
may  be  said  that  it  only  proposes  to  regulate  it.  To  regulate  is 
to  control ;  to  control  is  to  direct ;  and  under  whatever  branch 
you  seek  to  exercise  this  authority,  whether  by  the  commercial 
power  or  by  the  power  to  regulate  the  postal  service,  or  by  that 
to  raise  and  support  armies  and  navies,  it  is  the  same  thing ;  it 
is  substantially  to  assert  the  power  by  the  General  Government 
to  reach  out  its  hand  and  lay  its  strong  arm  on  the  great  Ameri- 
can railway  system.  If  you  have  a  right  to  say  that  roads  may 
connect  and  shall  connect ;  if  you  have  a  right  to  say  that  a 
railroad  company  in  the  interior  of  New  Jersey  —  and  that  is 
precisely  this  case  —  may  extend  its  road  across  the  State  and 
then  across  the  Delaware  River  and  connect  with  other  roads, 
and  that  all  roads,  whether  the  States  authorizing  them  will  or 
not,  shall  have  the  right  to  connect  one  road  with  another,  you 
have  thereby  asserted  a  principle  which  will  justify  the  Govern- 
ment in  establishing  rules  and  regulations  in  regard  to  the 
commerce  over  these  internal  railways  precisely  as  upon  the 
navigable  waters  of  the  United  States." 

Senator  Johnson,  of  Pennsylvania,  who  was  also  an  opponent 
of  the  bill,  characterized  it  as  follows :  — 


APPENDIX  367 

"Now  what  does  this  bill  say?  That  a  road  constructed  for 
the  local  trade  of  a  State,  for  the  purpose  of  benefiting  a  com- 
merce entirely  internal  as  within  a  State,  shall  not  be  subject 
to  any  limitations  contained  in  its  own  charter,  provided  it  has 
on  board  its  cars  a  passenger  or  a  box  of  freight  designed  to  go 
beyond  the  limits  of  which  the  road  is  authorized  to  carry  it 
by  its  own  charter.  Once  find  the  possession  of  one  of  these 
companies  whose  rights  are  limited,  granted  for  the  purpose  of 
carrying  on  domestic  trade  as  contradistinguished  from  com- 
merce between  the  States  —  once  put  on  board  a  road  of  that 
description  a  particle  of  freight  or  a  single  passenger,  and  it  has 
a  right  to  disregard  its  own  charter,  and  the  State  has  no  author- 
ity to  refuse  that  permission.  It  has  no  authority,  therefore, 
to  repeal  the  charter." 

Senator  Howard,  of  Michigan,  one  of  the  supporters  of  the 
measure,  expressed  his  view  as  to  the  power  of  Congress  in  the 
following  language :  — 

"Now,  I  insist,  sir,  that  a  State  charter  cannot  impose  condi- 
tions upon  a  company  that  shall  prevent,  burden,  or  obstruct 
commerce,  because  the  power  to  regulate  commerce  is  granted 
exclusively  to  Congress,  and  therefore  such  a  condition  is  void. 
I  will  not  undertake  to  deny  that  Congress  might,  in  an  exigency, 
regulate  the  price  of  freight  and  passage  money  upon  the  ocean. 
The  time  may  come  when  the  exercise  of  such  a  power  will  be- 
come necessary.  We  have  never,  thus  far,  exercised  it,  to  be 
sure ;  we  have  not  seen  the  necessity  of  exercising  it.  And  for 
the  same  reason  I  shall  not  deny  that  Congress  has  the  power 
to  regulate  even  tolls  in  the  matter  of  trade  among  the  States, 
though  we  have  never  exercised  it,  nor  assumed  to  exercise  it, 
thus  far.  I  am  not,  however,  by  such  objections  to  be  frightened 
out  of  my  position,  that  the  power  of  Congress  is  just  as  ex- 
clusive over  the  one  kind  of  commerce  as  the  other." 

And  Senator  Howe,  of  Wisconsin,  expressed  his  opinion  of 
the  power  of  Congress  over  such  matters  as  follows  :  — 

"But  I  said  I  denied  that  the  power  to  build  railways  or  au- 
thorize the  construction  of  railways  is  exclusively  in  the  several 
States.  I  have  no  manner  of  doubt,  if  it  were  adjudged  by  Con- 
gress necessary  and  expedient  to  promote  the  commercial  in- 
terests of  the  United  States,  to  advance  the  interests  of  com- 
merce moving  between  State  and  State,  to  build  a  railway,  that 


368  APPENDIX 

we  might  authorize  the  construction  of  a  railway  or  build  it 
ourselves.  It  is  an  instrument  of  commerce,  and  if  we  judge  it 
expedient  to  build  one,  who  shall  control  the  exercise  of  our 
discretion  ?  " 

The  right  of  Congress  to  charter  roads  within  the  bounda- 
ries of  a  State  without  the  State's  consent  is  no  longer  open  to 
question.  That  matter  was  definitely  settled  by  the  decision 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  in  California  v. 
Pacific  Railroad  Company  (127  U.  S.  1).  It  necessarily  follows 
that,  in  the  exercise  of  its  power  to  grant  franchises  for  the  con- 
struction of  railroads,  Congress  may  establish  such  regulations 
as  it  sees  fit  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  property 
over  such  roads,  and  it  is  undoubted  that  such  agencies  of  trans- 
portation are  free  from  any  measure  of  State  control.  In  de- 
livering the  opinion  of  the  court  in  California  v.  Pacific  Railroad 
Company,  Mr.  Justice  Bradley  said :  — 

"The  power  to  construct  or  to  authorize  individuals  or  cor- 
porations to  construct  National  highways  and  bridges  from 
State  to  State  is  essential  to  the  complete  control  and  regula- 
tion of  interstate  commerce.  Without  authority  in  Congress 
to  establish  and  maintain  such  highways  and  bridges,  it  would 
be  without  authority  to  regulate  one  of  the  most  important 
adjuncts  of  commerce.  This  power  in  former  times  was  exerted 
to  a  very  limited  extent,  the  Cumberland  or  National  Road 
being  the  most  notable  instance.  Its  exertion  was  but  little 
called  for,  as  commerce  was  then  mostly  conducted  by  water, 
and  many  of  our  statesmen  entertained  doubts  as  to  the  exist- 
ence of  power  to  establish  ways  of  communication  by  land. 
But  since,  in  consequence  of  the  expansion  of  the  country,  the 
multiplication  of  its  products,  the  invention  of  railroads  and 
locomotion  by  steam,  land  transportation  has  so  vastly  increased, 
a  sounder  consideration  of  the  subject  has  prevailed  and  led  to 
the  conclusion  that  Congress  has  plenary  power  over  the  whole 
subject." 

If  Congress  has  plenary  power  over  the  whole  subject,  then 
the  control  of  all  rates  on  interstate  roads,  operating  under  a 
National  franchise,  whether  for  the  transportation  of  passengers 
and  property  from  a  point  in  one  State  to  a  point  in  another 


APPENDIX  369 

State,  or  for  the  same  service  between  two  points  lying  within 
the  boundaries  of  a  State,  is  wholly  within  its  discretion. 

In  the  exercise  of  this  power,  the  National  Government  can 
fix  the  charges  to  be  made  for  transportation  over  an  interstate 
road  from  one  point  to  another  within  the  boundaries  of  a  State 
to  the  same  extent  as  it  may  from  a  point  in  one  State  to  a  point 
in  another  State.  In  Stockton  v.  Baltimore  &  New  York 
Railroad  Company,  decided  by  Justice  Bradley  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States,  sitting  as  Circuit  Judge  in  the  United 
States  Circuit  Court  for  the  District  of  New  Jersey,  August  1, 
1887  (32  Fed.  Rep.  9),  it  was  held  that,  in  carrying  on  foreign 
and  interstate  commerce,  corporations,  equally  with  individuals, 
are  within  the  protection  of  the  commercial  power  of  Congress 
and  cannot  be  molested  in  another  State  by  State  burdens  or  im- 
pediments ;  also,  that  Congress  can  confer  upon  a  State  Corpora- 
tion powers  not  contained  in  its  original  charter,  and  that  the 
power  of  Congress  is  supreme  over  the  whole  subject  of  inter- 
state commerce,  unimpeded  and  unembarrassed  by  State  lines 
or  State  laws. 

In  the  course  of  the  opinion  (bottom  of  page  16)  Justice  Brad- 
ley said :  — 

"Still  it  is  contended  that,  although  Congress  may  have 
power  to  construct  roads  and  other  means  of  communication 
between  the  States,  yet  this  can  only  be  done  with  the  concur- 
rence and  consent  of  the  States  in  which  the  structures  are  made. 
If  this  is  so,  then  the  power  of  regulation  in  Congress  is  not 
supreme;  it  depends  on  the  will  of  the  States.  We  do  not 
concur  in  this  view.  We  think  that  the  power  of  Congress  is 
supreme  over  the  whole  subject,  unimpeded  and  unembarrassed 
by  State  lines  or  State  laws ;  that,  in  this  matter,  the  country 
is  one,  and  the  work  to  be  accomplished  is  national ;  and  that 
State  interests,  State  jealousies,  and  State  prejudices  do  not  re- 
quire to  be  consulted.  In  matters  of  foreign  and  interstate 
commerce  there  are  no  States." 

The  principles  here  laid  down  are  now  adjudged  law  in  the 
courts  of  the  United  States,  and  there  would  seem  to  be  no  ques- 
2s 


370  APPENDIX 

tion  concerning  the  right  of  Congress  to  make  all  regulations 
necessary  to  the  control  and  operation  of  interstate  railroads. 

The  question  of  the  power  of  a  State  to  make  regulations 
affecting  the  rates  to  be  charged  for  the  transportation  of  inter- 
state commerce  seems  to  be  settled  by  the  decision  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  in  the  case  of  the  Wabash, 
St.  Louis  &  Pacific  Railway  Company  v.  Illinois  (118  U.  S.  557), 
which  was  decided  October  25,  1886,  Mr.  Justice  Miller  deliver- 
ing the  opinion  of  the  Court. 

That  case  concerned  the  validity  of  a  statute  of  the  State 
of  Illinois  enacted  to  prevent  unjust  discrimination  and  extor- 
tion in  the  rates  to  be  charged  by  railroads  in  the  State  of  Illinois 
for  the  transportation  of  freight  on  said  roads.  The  Court 
held  that  in  so  far  as  the  statute  in  question  affected  interstate 
commerce,  it  was  not  a  valid  law,  saying :  — 

"We  must,  therefore,  hold  that  it  is  not,  and  never  has  been, 
the  deliberate  opinion  of  a  majority  of  this  court  that  a  statute 
of  a  State  which  attempts  to  regulate  the  fares  and  charges 
by  railroad  companies  within  its  limits,  for  a  transportation 
which  constitutes  a  part  of  commerce  among  the  States,  is  a 
valid  law." 

And  again :  — 

"When  it  is  attempted  to  apply  to  transportation  through 
an  entire  series  of  States  a  principle  of  this  kind,  and  each  one 
of  the  States  shall  attempt  to  establish  its  own  rates  of  transpor- 
tation, its  own  methods  to  prevent  discrimination  in  rates,  or 
to  permit  it,  the  deleterious  influence  upon  the  freedom  of  com- 
merce among  the  States  and  upon  the  transit  of  goods  through 
those  States  cannot  be  overestimated.  That  this  species  of 
regulation  is  one  which  must  be,  if  established  at  all,  of  a  general 
and  national  character,  and  cannot  be  safely  and  wisely  remitted 
to  local  rules  and  local  regulations,  we  think  is  clear  from  what 
has  already  been  said.  And  if  it  be  a  regulation  of  commerce, 
as  we  think  we  have  demonstrated  it  is,  and  as  the  Illinois  court 
conceives  it  to  be,  it  must  be  of  that  national  character,  and  the 
regulation  can  only  appropriately  exist  by  general  rules  and 
principles,  which  demand  that  it  shall  be  done  by  the  Congress 
of  the  United  States  under  the  commerce  -clause  of  the  Consti- 
tution." 


APPENDIX  371 

So,  with  respect  to  the  regulation  of  interstate  commerce, 
it  no  longer  can  be  doubted  that  the  National  Government  has 
exclusive  power,  and  that  no  State  can  make  a  valid  regulation 
affecting  the  interstate  transportation  of  passengers  and  prop- 
erty. 

The  freedom  of  interstate  commerce  from  State  control  was 
definitely  settled  as  to  the  taxing  power  of  the  State  in  the  case 
of  the  State  Freight  Tax  in  1873  (15  Wall.  232),  and  later  in  1887 
in  the  case  of  Robbins  v.  Shelby  County  Taxing  District  (120  U.  S. 
489).  The  freedom  of  interstate  commerce  with  respect  to  the 
police  power  of  the  State  was  also  declared  in  the  cases  relating 
to  the  liquor  traffic.  Mugler  v.  Kansas  (123  U.  S.  623).  In 
1894  this  principle  was  extended  to  an  interstate  bridge,  and  it 
was  held  that  the  bridge  was  an  instrument  of  interstate  com- 
merce whereon  Congress  alone  possessed  the  power  to  enact  a 
uniform  schedule  of  charges.  Covington,  etc.,  Bridge  Co.  v. 
Kentucky  (154  U.  S.  204).  The  same  principle  was  later  ap- 
plied in  holding  invalid  the  dispensary  laws  of  South  Carolina 
regulating  the  sale  of  intoxicating  liquors  and  prohibiting  their 
importation.  Scott  v.  McDonald  (165  U.  S.  58) ;  Vance  v. 
Vandercook  (170  U.  S.  438). 

The  conclusion  that  flows  from  these  decisions  is  that  the 
right  to  carry  on  commerce  among  the  States  is  subject  to  the 
control  of  Congress  only;  it  is  not  the  exercise  of  this  power, 
but  its  existence  in  Congress,  which  excludes  all  State  control 
and  interference. 

The  existence  of  the  power  to  control  absolutely  and  exclu- 
sively both  the  subjects  and  instrumentalities  of  interstate  com- 
merce is  undisputed  and  undoubted,  and  any  attempt  by  a 
State  to  control  interstate  carriers  by  fixing  the  rates  they  shall 
charge  for  shipments  from  one  point  to  any  other  point  on  their 
lines  involves  a  conflict  of  power. 

Justice  Bradley,  in  Robbins  v.  Shelby  Taxing  District  (120 
U.  S.  489,  494),  said :  — 


372  APPENDIX 

"In  a  word  it  may  be  said,  that  in  the  matter  of  interstate 
commerce  the  United  States  are  but  one  country,  and  are  and 
must  be  subject  to  one  system  of  regulation,  and  not  to  a  multi- 
tude of  systems." 

And  again,  speaking  of  certain  well-settled  principles,  and 
citing  numerous  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  said, 
p.  492:-- 

"The  Constitution  of  the  United  States  having  given  to  Con- 
gress the  power  to  regulate  commerce,  not  only  with  foreign 
nations,  but  among  the  several  States,  that  power  is  necessarily 
exclusive  whenever  the  subjects  of  it  are  national  in  their  char- 
acter, or  admit  only  of  one  uniform  system  or  plan  of  regula- 
tion." 

The  laws  of  a  State  have  no  extra-territorial  force.  They 
can  operate  only  within  its  limits,  and  the  Legislatures  of  States 
through  which  an  interstate  road  may  run,  moved  by  local  preju- 
dice and  whim,  each,  in  time,  passing  laws  regulating  rates  to  be 
charged  by  that  road,  presents  a  total  lack  of  uniformity.  The 
power  in  the  Federal  Government  being  unquestioned,  the  con- 
trol by  it  of  the  interstate  carrier  follows,  even  to  the  extent  of 
controlling  rates  charged  for  transportation  anywhere  on  its 
line.  This  power  arises  not  alone  from  the  commerce  clause  of 
the  Constitution,  but  from  various  clauses  therein ;  it  is  the  ag- 
gregate of  powers,  both  enumerated  and  implied,  which  consti- 
tutes the  Federal  sovereignty ;  and  it  is  the  exercise  of  those 
powers  which  insures  to  the  greatest  number  of  the  people  the 
greatest  good. 


INDEX 


ACCIDENT  REPORT  LAW,  enacted  in 
1901 , 132.  Quarterly  Accident  Bul- 
letin, 132. 

ADAIB  CASE  in  connection  with  black- 
listing of  railroad  workmen,  152, 168. 

BRAGG,  WALTER  L.,  of  Alabama,  mem- 
ber of  original  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  30. 

BRINKMEIER  CASE,  the  first  case  in 
which  the  nation  ever  intervened 
in  a  State  court  to  uphold  Federal 
law,  90,  91. 

BRYAN,  WILLIAM  JENNINGS,  favors 
Safety  Appliance  Act  in  speech  in 
House  in  1893,  66. 

CLEVELAND,  GROVER,  suggests  Mr. 
Moseley  for  Secretaryship,  29,  30  ; 
pleased  at  the  Secretary's  success, 
33  ;  asks  Mr.  Moseley  to  investigate 
Kearney  incident  during  second  ad- 
ministration, 48,  49,  50,  51 ;  does 
not  feel  justified  in  appointing  Mr. 
Moseley  as  Commissioner  for  po- 
litical reasons,  53;  advises  Mr. 
Moseley  to  study  law,  79. 

COLLINS,  PATRICK  A.,  consulted  by 
President  Cleveland  in  regard  to 
Mr.  Moseley's  appointment  as  Sec- 
retary, 29-30;  confers  with  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  relating  to  the  ac- 
ceptability of  Edward  J.  Phelps  as 
Chief-Justice,  owing  to  his  attitude 
towards  the  Irish  while  Minister  to 
England,  37,  38,  59  ;  introduces  res- 
olution in  the  House  to  have  Com- 
mission investigate  need  of  Federal 
Safety  Appliance  Law,  59. 

COOLEY,  THOMAS  M.,  resigned  position 
at  salary  of  $25,000  per  year  to 
become  Chairman  of  Commission 
at  salary  of  $7500,  30;  urges  and 
aids  Mr.  Moseley  to  study  law,  33, 
79;  friendship  with  Mr.  Moseley, 
34 ;  writes  letter  against  removal  of 


Mr.  Moseley,  46;  presides  over  con- 
vention of  State  Railroad  Commis- 
sioners, 59. 

CROCKER,  GEORGE  G.,  letter  to  Senator 
Hoar  commending  Mr.  Moseley,  44 ; 
influence  in  furthering  Safety  Ap- 
pliance Legislation,  58-59 ;  letter 
from  Mr.  Moseley,  79. 

CULLOM,  Senator  of  Illinois,  father  of 
Interstate  Commerce  Law,  42. 

DOHERTY,  PHILIP  J.,  introduces  Em- 
ployers' Liability  Bill  in  Legislature, 
24 ;  author  of  able  work  on  Federal 
Employers'  Liability  Law,  103. 

ELKINS,  STEPHEN  B.,  letters  from  Mr. 
Moseley,  191,  198,  200;  eulogizes 
Mr.  Moseley  in  the  Senate,  227. 

EMPLOYERS'  LIABILITY  ACT,  103,  104, 
105,  106,  107,  108,  109,  110,  111, 
112. 

ERDMAN  ACT.  Arbitration  Bill.  En- 
counters many  obstacles,  149 ;  act 
in  operation,  154,  155,  156,  157. 

GRAY,  GEORGE,  Chairman  of  Anthracite 
Coal  Commission,  personal  friend  of 
Mr.  Moseley,  218 ;  writes  on  occa- 
sion of  Mr.  Moseley's  vindication, 
224. 

HARRISON,  BENJAMIN,  supports  prin- 
ciples of  Safety  Appliance  Act  in 
presidential  message,  63 ;  active 
and  generous  efforts  recognized  in 
a  letter  from  Mr.  Moseley  to  the 
President's  Secretary,  65;  efforts 
recognized  in  letter  from  Mr.  Mose- 
ley to  former  Attorney-General 
Miller,  67. 

HEPBURN  LAW,  regulating  rates,  passed 
in  1906,  184 ;  correspondence  relat- 
ing to  the  bill,  185,  186,  187,  188, 
189,  190,  191,  192,  193,  194,  195, 
196,  197,  198,  199 ;  description  of 
the  bill,  201,  202. 


373 


374 


INDEX 


HOAR,  GEORGE  F.,  presents  prayer  to 
Senate,  59. 

HOURS  or  SERVICE  ACT,  regulates  hours 
of  service  of  trainmen,  136 ;  efforts 
in  support  of  Act,  139,  140 ;  pro- 
visions, 141,  142. 

INTERSTATE  COMMERCE  COMMISSION, 
established  by  Congress,  Feb.  4, 
1887,  to  regulate  commerce  among 
the  States  and  establish  equality 
on  the  rail,  26,  28,  29,  30. 

JOHNSON  CASE,  the  first  case  under  the 
Safety  Appliance  Law,  82,  83,  84, 
85,  86,  87,  88,  90. 

KNAPP,  MARTIN  A.,  appointed  to  com- 
mission, 44 ;  arbitrator  under  Erd- 
man  Act,  154 ;  successful  efforts  in 
threatened  country-wide  railroad 
engineers'  strike,  156 ;  as  chairman 
for  Interstate  Commerce  Commis- 
sion recommends  increase  in  Mr. 
Moseley's  salary,  229 ;  letters  on 
occasion  of  Mr.  Moseley's  illness, 
240,  241,  242. 

LAMONT,  DANIEL,  compliments  Mr. 
Moseley  in  letter,  33;  has  confidence 
in  Mr.  Moseley,  36;  shows  Mr. 
Moseley's  protest  against  Phelps  to 
President  Cleveland,  37. 

McKiNLEY,  WILLIAM,  as  President  ap- 
points National  Industrial  Com- 
mission at  request  of  Congress,  131. 

MEDAL  BILL,  172,  177,  178. 

MORRISON,  WILLIAM  R.,  of  Illinois, 
member  of  original  Commission,  30. 

MOSELEY,  CHARLOTTE  AUGUSTA, 
mother  of  Edward  A.,  4 ;  con- 
gratulatory letter  to  her  son,  73,  74. 

MOSELEY,  EDWARD  S., father  of  Edward 
A.,  born  1813,  died  1900;  member 
of  Yale  class  of  1833;  large  ship 
owner  while  young  man,  3  ;  banker 
for  last  fifty  years  of  life,  4 ;  trustee 
of  Public  Library,  4;  president  of 
Merrimac  Humane  Society  and 
president  of  Society  for  Prevention 
of  Cruelty  to  Animals,  4;  married 
Charlotte  Augusta  Chapman,  four 
children  of  union,  4  and  5  ;  adds 
postscript  to  wife's  letter  to  his  son 
Edward,  74. 


MOSELEY,  KATE  PRESCOTT,  wife  of  Ed- 
ward A.,  childhood's  sweetheart,  16  ; 
marriage,  16 ;  large  factor  in  hus- 
band's success,  16;  lineage,  16. 

NEILL,  CHARLES  P.,  successful  efforts  of 
mediation,  154,  155,  156,  157 ;  mem- 
ber of  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Com- 
mission, 217. 

OLNEY,  RICHARD,  Attorney-General, 
interest  awakened  in  labor's  point 
of  view,  148 ;  goes  to  its  assistance, 
148  ;  drafted  much  of  Erdman  Bill, 
149,  150. 

PECK,  GEORGE  R.,  writes  letters  approv- 
ing address  of  Mr.  Moseley,  163, 
187,  188  ;  writes  Mr.  Moseley  on  the 
occasion 'of  his  vindication,  225. 

PHELPS,  EDWARD  J.,  appointment  to 
Chief-Justiceship  opposed  by  the 
Irish,  36,  37,  38. 

POWDERLEY,  T.  V.,  Leader  of  Knights 
of  Labor,  21,  22. 

PROUTY,  CHARLES  A.,  credits  Mr.  Mose- 
ley as  being  instrumental  in  securing 
the  Hepburn  amendment,  184  ;  con- 
gratulations on  Mr.  Moseley's  vin- 
dication, 224. 

ROADS,  SAMUEL,  JR.,  compliments  Mr. 
Moseley  on  latter's  Memorial  to 
John  Boyle  O'Reilly,  268. 

ROCHE,  JAMES  JEFFREY,  mentions 
Cribb  Club  in  "  Life  of  O'Reilly," 
263 ;  gets  interesting  anecdotes 
from  Mr.  Moseley  for  his  "  Life  of 
O'Reilly,"  268. 

ROOSEVELT,  THEODORE,  takes  stand 
for  Employers'  Liability  Law  of 
1906,  108 ;  insists  on  new  liability 
law  of  1908,  112  ;  aids  Mr.  Moseley 
in  procuring  Hours  of  Service  Act, 
139,  140,  141 ;  asks  Congress  to  de- 
termine financial  condition  of  rail- 
roads posting  reduction  notices,  155  ; 
favors  advanced  measures,  160  ;  in- 
terested in  design  for  medal,  178  ; 
advocates  in  presidential  message 
right  of  Government  to  appeal,  204  ; 
offers  personal  loan  to  Anthracite 
Coal  Commission,  217;  thought  Mr. 
Moseley  an  "Irish  Catholic,"  246. 

SAFETY  APPLIANCE  ACT,  64,  57,  58,  59, 
64. 


INDEX 


375 


SCHLEMMEB  CASE,  contributory  neg- 
ligence, 99,  100,  101,  102. 

SCHOONMAKEK,      AUGUSTUS,       of      New 

York,  member  of  original  Commis- 
sion, 30. 

SPOFFORD,  HARRIET  PRESCOTT,  poet 
and  novelist,  sister  of  Mrs.  Moseley, 
276  ;  early  morning  launch  trip  with 
Mr.  Moseley  in  his  last  days,  277. 

SPOFFORD,  RICHARD  S.,  husband  of 
Harriet  Prescott,  candidate  for 
Congress,  23,  24 ;  recommends  Mr. 
Moseley  as  Interstate  Commerce 
Commissioner,  28. 

TAFT,  WILLIAM  H.,  proposes  to  take 
enforcement  of  Safety  Appliance 
Act  from  the  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  127 ;  relinquishes  proj- 


ect, 130 ;  receives  letter  from  Mr. 
Moseley  objecting  to  Commerce 
Court,  206. 

WALKER,  ALDACE  F.,  of  Vermont,  mem- 
ber of  original  Interstate  Commerce 
Commission,  30. 

WOOD,  LEONARD,  military  governor  of 
Cuba,  invites  Mr.  Moseley  to 
assist  in  general  revision  of  Cuban 
railway  laws,  211 ;  writes  appre- 
ciative letter  of  Mr.  Moseley's 
services,  214  ;  sends  request  to  Mr. 
Moseley  for  second  visit,  215 ;  re- 
ports favorably  to  War  Department 
on  Mr.  Moseley's  work,  216. 

WRIGHT,  CARROLL  D.,  185;  recorder 
of  Anthracite  Coal  Strike  Com- 
mission, 217. 


EDWARD  A.  MOSELEY 


BIRTHPLACE,  described,  1,  6,  276,  277; 
interest  in  his  family  traditions,  1, 
2 ;  heritage  and  high  ideals,  1 ; 
New  England  ancestors,  273  ;  school 
lif e,  7 ;  fond  of  sport,  8 ;  champion 
of  the  weaker  boys,  8 ;  love  of 
adventure,  9 ;  shipped  before  the 
mast,  10;  voyage  to  India,  11; 
hardships  at  sea,  11 ;  first  great 
lesson  in  Democracy,  12,  13. 

MAN  OF  BUSINESS  AND  POLITICIAN, 
entered  Bartlett  Mills,  14;  East 
India  trade,  Rufus  Wills  &  Sons, 
voyage  to  West  Indies,  14,  17 ;  con- 
nection with  N.  B.  Goddard,  14; 
enters  politics,  15 ;  joins  Demo- 
cratic party,  15 ;  elected  to  common 
council  when  hardly  of  age,  15 ; 
alderman  for  two  years,  15 ;  trustee 
for  city  "sinking  fund"  for  fourteen 
(14)  years,  15 ;  barely  defeated  for 
Legislature,  15 ;  marriage  to  Kate 
Montague  Prescott,  8,  16 ;  inci- 
dents of  travel  for  the  firm  of  Mose- 
ley and  Wheelwright,  17,  18,  19,  20 ; 
Stetson,  Moseley  &  Co.,  21 ;  organ- 
ized strike  against  himself,  22 ; 
joins  Knights  of  Labor,  23 ;  cam- 
paign manager  for  brother-in-law, 
24 ;  member  of  executive  com- 
mittee of  Democratic  State  Con- 
vention, 24;  goes  to  Legislature, 


member  of  railroad  committee,  24 ; 
withdraws  from  partnership  with 
Mr.  Stetson,  25  ;  reasons,  24,  25 ;  re- 
elected  to  legislature,  1886,  25 ;  In- 
terstate Commerce  Law,  26 ;  reasons 
for  the  law,  26,  27,  28 ;  establish- 
ment of  Interstate  Commerce  Com- 
mission, 28,  29,  30 ;  not  appointed 
Commissioner,  why  ?  28,  29 ;  ap- 
pointed Secretary  of  Commission  at 
suggestion  of  President  Cleveland, 
29,  30. 

SECRETARY  INTERSTATE  COMMERCE 
COMMISSION,  duties  complicated  at 
first,  31 ;  gradually  wins  confidence 
of  Commissioners,  33  ;  affectionate 
relation  with  Judge  Cooley,  who 
urges  and  aids  him  to  become  a 
lawyer,  33,  34 ;  intimate  and 
friendly  relations  with  Commis- 
sioners, 34,  35,  36,  232,  233  ;  advice 
to  President  Cleveland  on  Chief- 
Justiceship,  36,  37,  38 ;  Cleveland 
defeated,  38 ;  O'Reilly's  prophetic 
letter,  38,  39,  40;  Republicans  in 
power,  41 ;  rival  candidate  for 
secretaryship,  41 ;  indorsements  of 
Mr.  Moseley,  42,  43,  44,  45;  the 
reelection  of  Mr.  Moseley  frees 
office  from  spoils  system,  46,  47; 
two  political  tricks  against  Presi- 
dent Cleveland  foiled  by  Mr.  Mose- 


376 


INDEX 


ley,  48,  49,  50,  51 ;  personal  letter 
to  President  Cleveland  on  the  occa- 
sion of  his  second  election,  52 ;  re- 
linquishes ambition  for  seat  in  Com- 
mission, 53 ;  father  of  the  bill  for 
protection  of  railway  employees  and 
travelers,  54 ;  remarkable  efforts 
to  secure  Safety  Appliance  Act,  58, 
59,  60,  61,  62,  63,  64;  law  enacted, 
66 ;  opposition  of  Tammany,  67 ; 
letters,  resolutions,  testimonials, 
etc.,  recognizing  work  for  the  law, 
68,  69,  70,  71,  72,  73,  74 ;  thanks  of 
the  Commonwealth,  75  ;  Commis- 
sion relies  on  Mr.  Moseley  to  attend 
to  law's  enactment,  77,  122  ;  bias  of 
some  judges,  78;  becomes  profi- 
cient in  constitutional  law,  77, 78, 81 ; 
provisions  of  Safety  Appliance  Act, 
81 ;  Mr.  Moseley 's  important  part 
in  Johnson  test  case,  82,  88 ;  secures 
establishment  of  very  important  pre- 
cedents in  law  and  procedure,  85,  90, 
93  ;  Brinkmeier  case,  90,  91 ;  appre- 
ciative letters  from  J.  B.  Foraker  and 
Irving  P.  Wanger,  respectively,  94 ; 
favorable  attention  from  judges 
and  lawyers,  95 ;  closely  follows 
fate  of  Interstate  Commerce  Law 
in  all  courts,  uses  his  knowledge  of 
tendencies  of  Federal  judges,  99 ; 
letter  to  President  Taft  relative  to 
appointment  of  Supreme  Court 
judge,  99  ;  Schlemmer  case,  99,  100, 
101,  102;  doctrine  of  "fellow-serv- 
ant and  assumption  of  risk"  and 
"contributory  negligence,"  103, 104, 
105,  106 ;  tremendous  cost  of  in- 
surance to  railroad  men,  106,  107 ; 
letter  of  Emperor  William  I  on 
industrial  insurance,  107,  108 ;  Mr. 
Moseley  author  of  first  Employers' 
Liability  Bill,  1895,  108 ;  presented 
bill  to  Industrial  Commission,  1898, 
108;  law  passed,  1906,  108;  pre- 
vails upon  administration  to  defend 
integrity  of  act,  108,  109,  110;  act 
declared  invalid  by  Supreme  Court, 
111 ;  new  Employers'  Liability  Act 
at  instigation  of  Roosevelt  in  1908, 
declared  valid  by  Supreme  Court, 
112;  suggests  workingmen's  com- 
pensation act  in  letter  to  Taft,  113, 
114,  115,  116;  Harriman  and  Del- 
ano commend  Safety  Appliance 
Act,  120,  121 ;  tables  showing  re- 


markable decrease  in  accidents,  120, 
121;  selection  of  inspectors,  122, 
123,  124,  125 ;  letter  to  Stuyvesant 
Fish,  125,  126  ;  Mr.  Moseley's  work 
recognized  in  England,  126,  127; 
proposal  to  transfer  enforcement 
of  Safety  Appliance  Act  to  Com- 
merce Court,  127;  country-wide 
protests,  128,  129,  130;  project 
abandoned,  130 ;  procures  Accident 
Report  Law,  132;  inaugurates 
Quarterly  Accident  Bulletin,  132; 
advocates  law  requiring  block  sig- 
nals, bill  introduced  in  1903,  but 
fails,  134 ;  Congress  appoints  Com- 
mission to  study  matter,  134 ;  re- 
eults  expected  from  proposed  laws, 
134,  135;  article  on  "Railroad  Ac- 
cidents in  the  United  States" 
in  Review  of  Reviews,  135 ;  cam- 
paign to  secure  law  shortening 
trainmen's  hours  of  labor,  137,  138, 
139,  140 ;  provisions  of  Hours  of 
Service  Act;  passed  in  1907,  141, 
142 ;  legislative  agent  reflects  on 
Mr.  Moseley  and  is  recalled,  141 ; 
result  of  Act,  142;  champion  of 
Arbitration  Law  of  1898,  143 ;  Bos- 
ton address  on  Arbitration  to 
Brotherhood  of  Railroad  Trainmen, 
142,  143  ;  leadership  recognized  by 
labor,  146 ;  Mr.  Moseley  gives  At- 
torney-General Olney  labor's  point 
of  view,  148 ;  Attorney-General  es- 
pouses cause  of  employees  of  Read- 
ing Road,  148 ;  Attorney-General 
assists  in  drafting  Erdman  Act, 
149;  Mr.  Moseley's  letter  to  a 
friend  recounting  obstacles  en- 
countered, 149 ;  receives  pens  with 
which  bill  was  signed,  150 ;  his  work 
applauded  by  unions,  150;  con- 
gratulations from  Mr.  Olney,  150 ; 
important  and  interesting  provi- 
sions omitted,  151 ;  Supreme  Court 
invalidates  one  clause,  152 ;  highly 
beneficent  effect  of  "Erdman  Law," 
154;  instances,  155,  156;  official 
report  of  Commissioner  Neill,  157; 
Safety  Appliance  Act,  a  pioneer, 
158  ;  Mr.  Moseley  procures  brother- 
hood legislative  representation,  159 ; 
its  importance,  159,  160 ;  suc- 
cessful efforts  to  bring  together 
political  leaders  and  railroad  labor, 
161 ;  unselfish  methods,  162 ;  rela- 


INDEX 


377 


tions  with  railroads,  162,  163  ;  rela- 
tions with  brotherhoods,  163,  164, 
165,  166,  167;  section  of  Arbitra- 
tion Bill  relating  to  blacklisting 
declared  void,  169  ;  fathered  Medal 
Bill,  170,  171,  172,  173,  174,  175, 
176;  provisions  of  bill,  177,  178; 
condensed  reports  of  successful 
applications,  179, 180, 181, 182,  183; 
moral  effect  of  Safety  Appliance 
Act,  184,  185 ;  correspondence  be- 
tween Mr.  Moseley  and  Professor 
Bascom  of  Williams  College,  185, 
186,  187 ;  appreciative  letter  from 
George  R.  Peck,  187,  188 ;  excerpt 
from  letter  from  Justice  Brewer, 
188,  189  ;  aids  in  broadening  scope 
and  power  of  Commission,  189 ; 
letter  to  Henry  George,  Jr.,  189,  190, 
191 ;  fight  against  unfair  discrim- 
inations in  freight  rates,  191,  192, 
193,  194,  195,  196,  197,  198,  199, 
200 ;  letter  to  Honorable  Wm.  Loeb, 
Jr.,  192 ;  letter  to  Honorable  John 
W.  Gaines,  194 ;  letter  to  Senator 
P.  C.  Knox,  195 ;  letter  from  Hon. 
Bourke  Cockran,  197;  methods 
disclosed  in  letter,  197;  letter  to 
Attorney-General  Wm.  Moody, 
199,  200;  broad  interpretation  of 
Federal  power,  203,  204;  extract 
from  pamphlet  on  Federal  Su- 
premacy, 203 ;  outgrew  partisan- 
ship, 204 ;  quotations  from  pam- 
phlet advocating  the  Government's 
right  of  appeal  in  criminal  cases, 
204,  205 ;  wrote  a  general  review 
of  railroad  situation  for  New  York 
Herald,  205 ;  letter  to  Mr.  Loeb  on 
"rule  of  reason,"  206 ;  letter  to  Pres- 
ident Taft,  protesting  against  pro- 
posed commerce  court,  206,  207, 
208,  209,  210 ;  largely  instrumental 
in  framing  Cuban  railway  law,  211, 
212,  213 ;  appreciative  letter  from 
General  Leonard  Wood,  215;  second 
visit  to  Cuba  for  the  purpose  of 
regulating  rates,  216;  refuses  pay 
for  Cuban  services,  216 ;  commen- 
dation of  General  Wood  and  Mr. 
Frank  Steinhart,  216,  217;  ap- 
pointed by  President  Roosevelt  an 
assistant  recorder  of  Anthracite 
Coal  Strike  Com.,  217,  228 ;  Com- 
mission appoints  him  disbursing 
officer,  217 ;  secures  funds  on  own 


credit,  217;  Judge  Gray's  tribute, 
218 ;  investigation  against  him, 
prompted  by  enemies,  220,  221 ; 
attitude  toward  investigation  and 
personal  bearing,  220,  221 ;  com- 
pletely exonerated,  222,  223;  con- 
gratulatory letters,  224,  225,  227; 
unsolicited  motion  made  to  increase 
salary,  226,  227,  228,  229. 
SUMMARY  OP  CAREER  AS  SECRETARY, 
performed  multitudinous  duties 
while  furthering  legislation,  230, 
231 ;  his  advanced  ideas  always 
sustained  by  Commission,  231 ; 
vigilant  eye  over  appointments  to 
Commission,  232,  233 ;  marvelous 
development  of  the  fields  of  his 
labors,  233,  234 ;  fixed  ideal  to  make 
Commission  of  service  to  public, 
234,  235 ;  tremendous  correspond- 
ence, 236,  237;  methods  of  work 
described  by  associates,  236,  237, 
238,  239;  indefatigable  labors  re- 
duce his  strength,  239 ;  letters 
from  Com.  Knapp  and  Com.  Har- 
lin  on  occasion  of  illness,  240,  241, 
242;  completion  of  twenty  years' 
work  in  Safety  Appliance  legislation, 
243,  244 ;  collapses  at  post  of  duty, 
244;  last  hours  and  death,  244; 
country-wide  expressions  of  affec- 
tion and  sorrow,  244,  245  ;  illustra- 
tion of  his  antipathy  to  race  and 
religious  prejudice,  246,  247,  248, 

249,  252,  253;    member  of  many 
societies,    associations,    and   clubs, 

250,  251;    degree  of  LL.D.    from 
University  of    Notre   Dame,   252; 
congratulations  from  Dean  Mussey, 
252  ;    Judge  De  Lacy,  Mrs.  Harriet 
Prescott    Spofford,     253;     Father 
Cavanaugh  and  others.  253,  254; 
generosity  and  forgiveness,  256, 257 ; 
acts  of  service  to  those  of  all  races 
and  creeds,  257, 258,  259,  260 ;  lover 
of    sports    and     association    with 
O'Reilly,  263, 264, 265, 266, 267, 268; 
touching   incidents   of    loyalty    to 
O'Reilly's  memory,  268,  269 ;  appre- 
ciation by  Samuel  Roads,  Jr.,  of  Mr. 
Moseley's  memorial  to  O'Reilly,  269; 
a  tribute  to  O'Reilly  and  Mr.  Mose- 
ley by  their  friend  Joseph  Smith,  269, 
270;    a  man  of  many  accomplish- 
ments, 270,  271 ;   much  interested 
in  farming,  271,  272,  273,  274 ;  an 


378 


INDEX 


expert  in  horticulture,  275 ;  un- 
bounded hospitality,  275 ;  last 
days  at  Deer  Island  near  Newbury- 
port,  276,  277;  appreciations: 
Theodore  Roosevelt,  278 ;  Wm.  H. 
Taft,  279  ;  Martin  H.  Knapp,  280  ; 
Honorable  Franklin  K.  Lane,  282  ; 
Honorable  Judson  C.  Clements,  283, 
284  ;  Honorable  Charles  A.  Prouty, 
284,  285;  Honorable  Edward  G. 
Clark,  285,  286,  287;  Honorable 
James  J.  Harlan,  287,  288  ;  Honor- 
able James  R.  Mann,  288,  289; 
Honorable  Champ  Clark,  290; 
Honorable  Joseph  G.  Cannon,  290 ; 
Honorable  Richard  Olney,  291; 
Honorable  Charles  J.  Bonaparte, 
292 ;  Honorable  George  Von  L. 
Meyer,  292;  Honorable  George 
Gray,  293  ;  Major-General  Leonard 
Wood,  294 ;  Honorable  Charles  P. 
Neill,  295;  Honorable  George  G. 


Crocker,  296, 297;  Mr.  B.  B.  Adams, 
297,  298,  299 ;  Mr.  John  Mitchell, 
299  ;  Mr.  T.  V.  Powderly,  300,  301, 
304  ;  Mr.  W.  Carter,  302  ;  Mr.  H.  B. 
Perham,  303,  304  ;  Mr.  L.  G.  Heber- 
ling,  305 ;  Mr.  F.  T.  Hawley,  305, 
306  ;  Mr.  W.  F.  Hynes,  306, 307, 308. 

TRAITS  AND  CHARACTERISTICS,  disin- 
terestedness, 216,  219,  227,  228, 232, 
255  ;  forgiving,  12,  256  ;  impartial- 
ity, 234;  kindness,  255,  256,  257, 
258,  259,  260,  261 ;  independence, 
25,  32,  131 ;  ingenuity,  86,  89,  101, 
113, 257, 258 ;  many-sidedness,  262  ; 
unconventionality,  15,  32 ;  persist- 
ency, 169,  256,  257,  258;  friend- 
ships, 34,  35,  255,  256;  fond  of 
sports,  7,  8,  263,  264,  265,  266,  267, 
268. 

OPINIONS  AND  PRINCIPLES,  labor,  22, 
23,  24,  25;  woman's  suffrage,  24; 
democracy,  12,  13,  15,  250,  251. 


HP  HE    following    pages   contain   advertisements   of 
books  by  the  same  author  or  on  kindred  subjects. 


BY  THE  SAME  AUTHOR 


Theodore  Roosevelt :   The  Boy  and  the  Man 

Red  cloth,  gilt  top,  I2mo,  300  pages  and  index,  illustrated,  $1.30 


WHAT  REVIEWERS  SAY 

"  The  ideal  biography  of  Roosevelt."  —  New  York  Times 
Review  of  Books. 

"  Mr.  Morgan  has  rendered  timely  and  valuable  services. 
.  .  .  He  has  made  his  central  character  vivid  and  real."  — 
St.  Louis  Globe- Democrat. 

"  Considered  merely  as  a  piece  of  juvenile  literature  it  is  a 
capital  piece  of  work,  a  record  of  adventure,  daring,  and 
achievement  told  with  all  the  glamour  of  romance."  —  New 
York  Commercial. 

"The  chapters  devoted  to  Roosevelt's  Western  life  are 
particularly  full  and  satisfactory."  —  Boston  Budget. 

"To  know  Roosevelt  through  the  medium  of  Mr.  Morgan's 
book  is  to  know  him  in  the  light  which  he  himself  would 
choose."  —  Philadelphia  North  American. 

"  The  book  can  go  into  home  or  school  North  or  South, 
without  the  possibility  of  offence.  ...  It  is  especially  tonic 
for  high  school  youth  and  college  young  men.  I  doubt  if 
any  book  has  been  written  that  will  do  as  much  for  students 
as  will  this  story  of  a  real  life.  .  .  .  Buy  it,  read  it,  ...  and 
tell  others  to  read  it." —  Journal  of  Education. 


THE   MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  Tork 


Abraham  Lincoln :  The  Boy  and  the  Man 


BY  JAMES  MORGAN 


With  many  interesting  portraits  and  other  illustrations, 
many  of  them  secured  for  the  book  from  private  collections 

Cloth,  $1.30 

You  may  already  know  the  great  events  of  Lincoln's  life, 
but  you  will  still  find  this  simple,  clear,  straightforward  story 
of  the  early  hard  work,  the  slow  study  for  the  practice  of  law, 
the  single-minded  stand  "  for  the  Union,"  and  the  brave,  quiet 
facing  of  every  difficulty,  the  most  fascinating  record  of  any 
human  life  which  you  have  known. 

The  Chicago  Tribune  says  of  it  editorially :  "  It  tells  the  life  story  well. 
It  is  interesting.  It  is  well  written.  It  gives  the  significant  facts  one 
wants  to  know." 

"  No  young  man  can  read  Mr.  Morgan's  volume  without  learning  to  love 
Lincoln  for  his  homely  honesty  and  noble  ideals,  and  feeling  the  ache  in 
the  throat  that  the  whole  nation  felt  on  the  day  of  his  tragic  passing."  — 
Chicago  Record  Herald. 

"  Mr.  Morgan  is  much  more  than  a  faithful  compiler.  He  has  points  of 
view  of  his  own,  and  seizes  with  individual  judgment  upon  the  facts  worth 
while."  —  Literary  Digest. 

"  This  must  be  classed  as  one  of  the  very  best  of  the  many  books  upon 
the  subject  which  have  appeared  in  recent  years."  —  Boston  Transcript. 

"  Mr.  Morgan's  book  is  most  attractively  written,  and  unremittingly  en- 
gages interest  and  attention."  —  Philadelphia  Press. 

"A  masterly  composition  ...  a  volume  that  ought  to  be  in  every 
American  home."  —  PROFESSOR  SHEPARDSON,  Chicago  University. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  York 


Marcus  Alonzo  Hanna :  His  Life  and  Work 

BY   HERBERT   CROLY 

Author  of  "  The  Promise  of  American  Life." 

Illustrated,  Cloth,  Gilt  top,  8vo,  $2.30  net;  postpaid,  $2.70 

In  preparing  the  material  for  this  biography  a  great  deal  of  time  and 
care  was  spent  in  the  attempt  to  make  it  complete  and  accurate.  In  the 
first  place  an  exhaustive  collection  was  made  of  all  documents  bearing  upon 
Hanna's  life  and  work,  including  all  his  available  correspondence.  The 
material  obtained  from  this  source  was  not,  however,  of  the  same  value  and 
importance  that  it  frequently  is  in  the  case  of  prominent  men.  Mr.  Hanna 
was  a  leader  rather  than  a  statesman.  The  most  critical  part  of  his  work 
was  transacted  by  means  of  private  personal  conferences,  and  an  account  of 
his  life  would  necessarily  be  very  inadequate  which  was  not  based  to  some 
extent  upon  a  knowledge  of  what  occurred  at  some  of  these  conferences. 
In  order  to  meet  this  need,  all  of  Mr.  Hanna's  associates  in  business  and 
politics  were  interviewed  and  statements  of  their  relations  with  Mr.  Hanna 
obtained.  Mr.  Croly  has  made  it  his  main  object  to  prepare  a  good  narra- 
tive. Mr.  Hanna  was  a  man  of  action,  who  was  doing  things  all  his  life  and 
whose  career  was  a  succession  of  surprises  not  merely  to  the  public,  but  to 
his  friends  and  to  himself.  His  life  affords  consequently  the  material  for  a 
quick-moving  story,  and  every  other  aspect  of  it  has  been  subordinated  in 
the  attempt  to  bring  out  this  value.  The  book  is  not  about  Mr.  Hanna's 
times  or  his  associates,  or  even  his  opinions ;  it  is  about  the  man  and  the 
unfolding  of  his  career.  The  man  is  much  more  interesting  than  anything 
or  any  succession  of  things  which  he  accomplished.  He  made  a  vivid  per- 
sonal impression  on  his  contemporaries,  the  effect  of  which  is  gradually 
wearing  off  because  his  work  did  not  have  as  much  permanent  value  as  his 
personality. 

"An  interesting  and  instructive  study,  which  is  not  only  a  'human 
document '  but  incidentally  a  comprehensive  survey  of  American  politics 
during  the  last  two  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century."  —  New  York  Sun. 

"  A  biography  that  reads  like  historic  romance  ...  to  all  who  knew 
Senator  Hanna  Mr.  Croly's  book  is  of  breathless  interest.  To  all  Ameri- 
cans it  must  stand  as  an  invaluable  contribution  to  the  history  of  his  time ; 
for  he  made  history."  —Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 


THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  York 


IMPORTANT   BOOKS   BY   HENRY   S.  HAINES 

Problems  in  Railway  Regulation 

BY  HENRY  S.  HAINES 

Member  American  Society  Civil  Engineers ;  Member  American  Society 
Mechanical  Engineers ;  Formerly  Vice-President  and  General  Manager 
"  Plant  System  "  of  Railroad  and  Steamship  Lines ;  also  Commissioner 
Southern  States  Freight  Association ;  Ex-President  American  Railway 
Association ;  Author  of  "  American  Railway  Management,"  "  Restrictive 
Railway  Legislation,"  and  "  Railway  Corporations  as  Public  Servants." 

Cloth ,  I2tno,  578 pages,  $1.75  net;  by  mail  $f.SS 

The  scope  of  the  work  includes  such  a  description  of  past  conditions 
as  seems  necessary  to  trace  to  their  origin  the  ills  complained  of,  and  to 
exhibit  the  effect  of  the  attempts  to  cure  them  by  government  regulation. 
Mr.  Haines  has  been  a  railroad  official  of  large  powers  and  experience,  and 
every  reader  will  be  impressed  by  his  fairness,  his  caution  in  statement,  his 
breadth  of  view,  and  his  abundant  information. 


Restrictive  Railway  Legislation 

Cloth,  355  pp.,  index,  8vo,  $1.25  net 

Chapters  are  devoted  to  rate-making,  theoretical  and  practical,  and  to  a 
discussion  of  the  measures  proposed  or  enacted  recently  by  Congress. 
"  Not  the  least  valuable  part  of  the  book,"  as  the  Chicago  Post  remarks, 
"  is  that  which  deals  with  the  power  of  directors  and  the  proper  protection 
of  stockholders." 

Railway  Corporations  as  Public  Servants 

Cloth,  2jj pp.,  I2mo,  $1.50  net ;  by  mail  $1.62 

This  work  contains  the  substance  of  a  course  of  lectures  delivered  at  the 
Boston  University  School  of  Law.  The  treatment  of  the  subject  is  directed 
toward  an  amelioration  of  the  existing  relations  between  railways  and  the 
public ;  and  it  thus  becomes  to  some  extent  supplementary  to  Mr.  Haines' 
previous  work,  "  Restrictive  Railway  Legislation."  The  volume  is  a  closely 
reasoned  discussion  of  the  most  important  phase  of  the  Railway  problem 
at  the  present  time:  What  is  the  basis  of  a  reasonable  rate?  The  method 
is  both  historical  and  economic,  but  the  argument  is  essentially  one  from 
public  utility. 

THE  MACMILLAN   COMPANY 

Publishers  64-66  Fifth  Avenue  New  York 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


